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 Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:59 am
Nehanda beat her wings hard, trying to make it back from Ar'Idil as fast as she could. The muscles of her wings were burning, as she'd never flown this far and fast before, but her cheeks were burning even more. How could she have made such a stupid mistake?
She'd delivered a seed pod, with its priceless contents, to the wrong house. She'd just dumped it by the door and flown off without making sure.
But oh, there was Cetalu's clearing. She was almost there. Folding her tired wings slightly, she spiraled clumsily down until she'd alighted on the porch of House #5.
Gulping back embarressment, she knocked on the door.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:13 am
He'd never liked waiting. It was something reserved for those of little imagination and utilized so that they could later claim that was why nothing had managed to be done. Taking a leaf from the less masculine of his bloodline, Nathaniel had cleaned the floorboards, scoured the beams along the ceiling to decimate the spider population's dwellings, and gone over the furniture with metallic pads, rags, and any cleaning solution he could get his hands on. The upside of the matter was that the house was completely spotless and that any surface could have been eaten off of. But ultimately, an upside meant a less than pleasant cause was working to make him uncomfortable behind the scenes.
The Aerandir had not yet arrived. And so much cleaning had exhausted him to the point of needing a quick sit down or an equally fast collapse.
He seated himself in the hardwood of the rocking chair, though the comfortable padding of the couch would have given his aching joints a better chance at recovery. His cane tapped an unsteady tattoo against the curling base of the chair, as though mimicking the chaotic pulsing of his heartbeat.
Had there been a decision made when he'd been paying less than suitable attention? Did the committee suddenly decide that, because he wasn't in perfect physical condition and because he was recently single, he didn't deserve a child any longer?
Nathaniel rubbed the space between his eyes, calloused hands making a sound vaguely like sandpaper as they tried to alleviate the headache working purposefully through his skull. Surely if they had changed their minds, he at least would have been notified. He'd moved the entirety of his admittedly small life to an island that no one had heard of to care for the child of a race that hardly anyone could recall.
It occurred to him belatedly that there could have been a simple mix up. That perhaps he'd misunderstood when he was to be given the child or that he was in fact under the obligation to retrieve it himself. Regardless, he'd grown unable to wait any longer, and so he latched on to the final ideal and rose with a rickety grace to hobble towards the door. It felt better to come to a conclusion, and even if he was in the wrong, it gave him something to do.
He nearly grabbed his fur-lined jacket off the coat hanger before remembering where he was and why it wasn't necessary. Shrugging off the eerie feeling of going out into warm sunshine, the older gentleman opened the door up just as the first knock fell upon its surface, grey-blue eyes widening with mild surprise when he found a full-grown Aerandir on the other side.
For a moment, he searched the sharp contours of his memory, trying to decide whether or not he had been instructed to care for a child or an older representative of the nearly extinct species. His mind informed him that it was, indeed, a child, and that this intruder on his doorstep was in no way connected to what it was he was in the process of accomplishing. His old life collided abruptly with his new one, and before he could stop himself, he had already gruffly spoken.
"I'm not interested in buying anything."
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:36 pm
OhGoddessOhGoddessOhGoddess
Nehanda's embarressment overcame her completely, and she stood for several seconds, hand upraised, jaw open and cheeks bright red, staring at the older human standing in the open doorway.
"Oh, no. I'm um, I'm not selling anything. I mean, I'm Nehanda, and I need to give, um, but I'm not selling, I mean I don't want money, um . . ."
She cut herself off, and wished for the ground to open up and swallow her, right there and then. She was never going to live this one down. The swan maid took a deep breath, and shook herself, right down to the tips of her feathers. She'd actually put together a little speech before dropping the seedpod off for the first time, and had been a little disappointed that she'd had to leave a note instead. Well, this was probably a very good time for that speech.
"My name's Nehanda, and I'm one of the Aerandir living here on Cetalu. I'm currently responsible for preparing the Aerandir artifacts before handing them off to their chosen guardians. I'm assuming that you're Nathaniel."
Reaching back into her carrysak, she pulled out the seedpod and quickly removed it from the protective wrappings. "Inside of this pod are a feather and a piece of fur Eventually, they'll unite to become an Aerandir child." She broke off, and colored even more darkly. "I owe you a really big apology. I misread the note I was sent, and I brought the seedpod over to the other island, Ar'Idil. As soon as I realized my mistake, I flew over as quickly as I could to bring it back here."
She took a deep breath, and hoped this man wouldn't be too furious with her. "I'm really, really sorry."
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 12:40 pm
He waited for the Aerandir to regain her mental footing, his only display of impatience the occasional rap of his cane on the threshold of the door. The grizzled soldier's mind was already racing ahead of this encounter, trying to pinpoint what he would do next and how he would go about it. The note he'd been gifted with previously had informed him that there was a community center, possibly one where he could demand an explanation regarding the current happenings.
But as she stumbled through her oration, the speedy considerations gradually slowed and eventually halted all together, his brows drawing together beneath silver-shot hair. They lifted higher still when she removed the seedpod from her pack, though the rest of his features remained in their ambiguous settings as he eyed the package critically. Nathaniel could recall the letter that had addressed what he would be gifted with upon arriving on the islands, but he could still hardly believe that two such innocuous-seeming objects would eventually bond to form a whole, hopefully healthy, child.
"I am." He replied to the unvoiced question of his identity, holding out one hand to take the valuable bundle while the other steadied his balance on the cane. "I was just about to go out and request information regarding it from the island administration." There was a measure of disapproval in his tone, but it was heavily blunted by relief that he wouldn't have to rove the entirety of Cetalu and its sister island to find his charge. Her apologies rolled off without much effect, but somewhere he digested them and any potential anger waned and vanished.
"It wasn't exposed to anything?" He asked after a moment, the question clipped and cautious. "When it was left alone, outside, did anything come into contact with it?" How was he supposed to keep a bit of fur and feather from contracting something? The seedpod looked unblemished, but what if some little creature or bacterium had crept inside and done irreparable damage to the two items? It was a ridiculous thing to worry after, but being new to the idea of parenting appeared to be making him both short-tempered and anxious.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:42 pm
Nehanda shook her head. This man was unlike any she had ever met before. "The seedpod was untouched, still wrapped up safely, just like I left it." She frowned for a moment. "We're still discovering a lot about the transormation and maturation process that had been lost over time. In fact, this is only the third Aerandir child of the current generation to use the seedpod method."
Feeling considerably more secure not that she was on familiar ground, the swan maiden grinned and fanner her wings a bit. "I actually "hatched" out of a regular old glass jar!"
Returning to the more serious nature of the discussion, she looked down at the seedpod. "There's magic involved, you see. Magic and the protection of the Aerandir goddesses. I believe that some innate power within the pod keeps the artifacts safe. Please don't drop it, break it, open it, or expose it to extreme temperatures. Other then that, you shouldn't worry much about the pod's fragility. They're very strong."
Reaching out to touch the pod softly, she looked shyly up at Nathaniel. "I don't know if you've met anyone else yet, but there aren't many Aerandir yet who are as old or older then I am. And the adults are really busy, so we don't see much of them. Um, if you ever have any questions about anything, I hope you'll feel free to come ask me. I live with my guardian, Foenixfyre, in House #9. And my little sister, Cerise, is one of the other gryphons who came from a seedpod."
She flushed again, but only a tiny bit this time. "She's not very nice, but I'm hoping that interacting with more people will make her behave better."
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Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:58 pm
Nathaniel didn't know why his blood felt too hot and his mood was dashing from spot to spot on the emotional map, he only knew that with the continued chat and the seedpod clutched in the safe grip of his arms that he was beginning to calm. The woman speaking to him seemed honestly embarrassed for the mix up, and he couldn't fault her too seriously once she had already apologized with such feeling.
As the discussion went on, however, the man found himself squirming uncomfortably once more; notification of higher powers at work, not to mention the presence of a feminine-based religion, served to cause a measure of undue distress to course with dark strokes throughout the veins of his form. It wasn't that he had something against the idea, it was simply that he had been raised with severe Catholic principles enforced by equally strict, but long since dead parents. The idea of a completely unrelated religion riled age-old feelings that stemmed from their ideology instead of his own, but he remained decidedly quiet on the matter, instead preferring to listen and watch as she extended a hand to gingerly place it on the hard casing that housed what was soon to be a child.
He hesitated, trying to work his thick tongue around a suitable response to her kindness. The lengthy silence that stretched out between them seemed a live thing, invading his nostrils and ears until the roar of the quiet was deafening. He could have dealt more easily with rudeness or sullenness, tricks of the trade he'd learned early on in his military career, but genuine amicability was something he still had not entirely grown used to. It'd been one of many things that his wife had criticized him for, and a point that Tahlia had often poked at in jest.
"Well..." Nathaniel glanced back towards his home, immediately wishing that he could simply shut the door and be done with the conversation. His bad leg was beginning to throb faintly, and the veteran was having troubles recalling proper etiquette through the ache. "Thank you. I might end up doing that."
He didn't touch down on the subject of a less than friendly sibling, feeling as though he could share her sentiment to a degree. It was difficult to be breezy and caring at all times, especially among strangers.
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:45 am
Nehanda shifted from one foot to the other, and her wings fluttered a bit. She could definitely sense that this man wanted privacy now. Maybe she shouldn't have dumped all of that information on him right now?
"Well, um, I know it's a lot to take in. Thanks for your understanding, and I really am sorry about the mix-up. I'll let you go, um, now. And, um, oh, I almost forgot. Halloween's coming up. This year, I'm going to be taking the younger kids around the villages for trick-or-treating. Um, if you'd like to take part, it'd be great. And you'll get to meet more of us without having to track everyone down!" It was easy to see that this idea really excited the Aerandir, as her ears stood up and her long ivory tail swished quickly from side to side.
"Well, I'll go now. If there's anything you need, let us know, or post a note in the Community Centre. Welcome to Cetalu!" Raising a hand close to her chest, she gave a little wave before stepping backward off of the porch.
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 1:27 pm
Forehead wrinkling ever so slightly, Nathaniel considered what the elder Aerandir was requesting of him. He didn't mind children, in fact, he rather enjoyed youthful company to a degree, but it seemed as though an entire cohort of kids demanding sweets at his doorstep might have been a little more than he could conceivably handle.
"I will... take that into consideration and get back to you before the week runs out." He said finally, fingers absently tracing the case as he watched her step back, apparently just as eager to terminate the conversation as he was. "And I'll drop by at some point, after I've arranged the house. Good day to you."
He carefully made his way back into the house, closing the door and nearly collapsing in front of it. Nathaniel placed the egg-shaped vessel in the crook of one elbow, allowing the other hand free reign to alleviate the growing cramp in his lamed leg, a standard, scowling frown overaking his features. It seemed as though raising a child was going to be a more social venture than he had thought.
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