Welcome to Gaia! ::

12/21/04

When there was the distinctive and familiar sensation of a ripple over her psychic skin, Emperial turned quickly towards the feien plant sitting in her sunroom office and readied herself for the worst. What could possibly happen? She quickly admonished herself. All the fairies were either now bonded to Gaians or dead, and the only fairy she knew to be capable of this feat was--

A tiny figure popped into view and immediately opened his mouth in a plaintive wail. "Yanvir is keeling it!" the fairy bawled.

Emperial blinked. From what she could tell, the source of the fairy's considerable anguish was an icicle which he gripped firmly in his arms, hugging it to his chest. Water slid down the icicle's sides and condensed into a large droplet at the tip. The droplet then plunked against the painted wood of the parrot chest, her childhood dresser, upon which the fairy plant rested.

"Where did you get that?" Emperial asked him. There was certainly no snow in Roanoke. "Gaia?"

The bawling subsided into little sobs. "Is from far side of world," sniffed Yanvir, "where Yanvir take Corvus, and Corvus give Yanvir sun teardrop for pay, but teardrop is exposed too long and is losing all its light and no more shine!" He held up his treasure for her consideration.

"A sun teardrop?" said Emperial, studying the icicle. She could tell it had been snapped off a tree branch. "What else did Corvus say about the sun teardrop?"

Yanvir shifted his ever-decreasing prize in his hands. "He say it glow, shine big, that in order keep glow must put in dark place and never look at, but is too late! All glow is gone and no more shiny! It all seep out when Yanvir teleport it and now is broke!"

"Aw, honey," soothed Emperial, instantly guessing at Corvus's game. "I think there may be a little bit of shine left!" She took the ice from his hands and held it up to the window, careful not to drop the slippery icicle. Yanvir had been traumatized enough. "There, see?"

The chirp Yanvir gave seemed to indicate happiness.

"Now, we have to put it someplace dark very quick, for it has so little shine left! I know exactly where. Come on." As she rose from her seat she scowled a moment. Corvus would pay for this. Yanvir fluttered up behind her with as much energy as he could muster, which was not very much: he bobbed up and down and careened from side to side until Emperial plucked him from the air and nestled him in the crook of her arm.

She took Yanvir into the dining room and set him down on the table, instructing him to hold the icicle and be very still. The thing was melting more and more now, so she had to act fast. She stripped off one of her socks and wrapped the icicle up in it, then opened the long row of cabinets beneath the dining room window and pulled out a small lacquer box. Taking the icicle, she wrapped it in her sock, then put the sock in the box and pushed it to the back of the cabinet. "There we go! All safe."

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" squealed Yanvir, jumping up and down. He wobbled over to Emperial's nearby hand and gave it a hug.

"Now, why did Corvus give you the ice- sun teardrop?"

"Oh, that because Yanvir he pay for go quest!" beamed Yanvir. "Up?" Emperial scooped Yanvir back up again.

"A quest? That sounds like fun. What he lo- I mean, what's he looking for?"

"That easy! Yanvir send look for go mortality in big forest far west where old man come, only is only come sometimes and not all time, but maybe is there now, and has go mortality under sea."

Emperial blinked and pushed aside her curtain, returning them to the little sunroom office. "What?"

Rolling his eyes, Yanvir said, "Yanvir is saying Yanvir send look for go mortality in far west in forest with old man where maybe be only go mortality under sea!"

"Did you send Corvus looking under the ocean?" she asked.

"No no NO!" said Yanvir, beginning to get upset again. "Old man lives under sea and come out for give go mortality!"

"What is go mortality? Some sort of speed?" Emperial said, then nearly dropped Yanvir as she suddenly realized it. "You mean IMmortality!?"

"Yes old man live under sea and is go mortality so give secret."

"You mean Corvus is out right now questing for immortality!?" she exclaimed, hastily depositing Yanvir on the desk so she could wave her arms about furiously. "He didn't say anything! Where is he? Where did he go?"

Yanvir leaned forward until his head was touching the desk and rocked back and forth. "Yanvir is SAID send forest far west, most far west for long way, far in west! Forest! West!"

"In CANADA? In ALASKA?"

"NO! Is Lewis Clark west!" screamed Yanvir.

This shouting was beginning to attract attention. Simon drifted in from the living room, his reading disturbed, vaguely conscious of the subject matter. "Is everything quite alright?"

Emperial seized upon this question with great abandon. "Corvus is gone! He went off to look for immortality on the West Coast, in Oregon or Washington or California!"

Simon looked at Yanvir, who was playing dead, and then back to his bond. "He was bound to go eventually, Em."

"Well, yes, in FEBRUARY or so. Or maybe January. But it's December and Christmas is in four days! I have to be on a plane in three days!"

"IS ONLY DAY WORK," shouted Yanvir, sitting up. He was summarily ignored as Emperial continued ranting and he allowed himself to fall back against the desk.

Simon listened dispassionately to Emperial's wailing about the why and the lack of notice for the excursion. "I certainly don't think he had our conveniences in mind, Emi. He's hardly what you would call a considerate individual."

"West, west," moaned Yanvir from the desk.

"Considerate he may not be, but we've always told each other this stuff in the past! He's always kept me informed." She looked at Simon pleadingly, begging for an analysis or interpretation.

But Simon merely shook his head. "I don't know enough about Corvus to be able to help at all in this regard. He hasn't favored my presence for a long time now, and for that matter, neither have you. I'm not trying to be accusatory or place blame, but simply put, we are all our own people, and apparently owe each other nothing. Corvus may have kept you in his confidence about some things, but it is his arrogant fault he has passed on to me, this lack of allegiance, and you will simply have to deal with Corvus being his own person."

Emperial stood openmouthed at this. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and polished his glasses. "I know that, I know. People drift together, and people drift apart, and nothing you can do will bring them back unless both your hearts are in the same place. Dammit." The tears were coming too fast for her wiping now and streaked down her face to her chin.

Simon drifted a bit closer. "I'm sorry, Emi, I didn't mean..."

"No, no, it's not you, it's this stupid holiday. It was the last time I saw someone who was important to me and I loved, and I haven't seen him since, and I don't want that to happen to me again, not on Christmas. But you're right, Corvus is his own person, and if he wants to leave he can."

"I don't think he wants to leave. I think he wants to stay," Simon offered. "I think deep down, he's the saddest and most frightened of us all, and he'd do anything to avoid leaving in February, even if he doesn't know why." He offered up a smile.

"Oh, you're so good to me, Simon," she sniffled, plucking him from the air and hugging him gently against her face where the salt tears tickled his nose.

"I'm sure he'll come back," said Simon. "He always does."

"BLAH BLAH," said Yanvir from the desk.

The embrace ended and Emperial gave a light laugh at Yanvir's antics. "Let's get you back home."

But when they went outside, there was another altercation. Hovering a foot from the door, Julius awaited, his face a mask of cold emotion, lips drawn into a grimace. "I heard you talking," he said, which was several times and understatement. Emperial's initial yells could be heard for quite some distance beyond the confines of the house.

"Then you know Corvus has gone to look for immortality," said Emperial. Yanvir crawled up her arm, gripping tightly the cotton material of her shirt, and sneered at Julius.

Julius ignored the puerile antics. "I advised against it, but as he has gone, there is nothing more I can do, except to say that it is a great travesty."

"I'm aware of your feelings on the matter, Juli. I'd rather not have this argument again." Her eyes narrowed.

"I chose you to be the bearer of summoners, Emperial, and my obligation to you in that regard still stands. Even if he returns, and there is good chance he will not, I doubt Corvus will be able to create any more blooms."

"Yeah, itchy boo," muttered Yanvir, sticking his head down Emperial's shirt collar.

Emperial tugged Yanvir loose and deposited him back on her shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"Only that there is a limit to the magics involved in bloom summoning, and that limit was not designed to survive immortality and gemstone merging. The fact that it survived the latter is miracle enough. To that end, and given that Corvus may never come back, I did create a backup."

Emperial looked very justifiably horrified. "Corvy is coming back, Juli! Why wouldn't he? In fact, I should probably go wait inside, as he'll call any minute now, but first I have to take Yanvir home. Corvus doesn't NEED a backup, Corvus is a great summoner."

"Maybe dead," offered Yanvir, trying to climb into Emperial's shirt again. "Sometimes often many people go quest not come back, for go mortality."

"Corvus is coming back," she growled, pulling Yanvir away once again, and this time depositing him on a nearby windowsill. "You both are ridiculous. A backup! You should be ashamed of yourself, Juli. There's absolutely no reason I should need another summoner, when I've already got one and he is coming back, probably immortal."

Julius did not appear to have any feelings whatsoever on the matter. His face remained an impassive mask as he faded out of view under the shield of his imperceptible invisibility.

Yanvir stuck a tongue out at the empty air. "Bleuh! Julie-foolie go back home like coward, is big coward and stupid a**." Emperial held her tongue as she plucked Yanvir up by his tails and carried him through the portal to his home again.

12/26/04

It was magnificent. Spectacular. Corvus spent all day studying the tree, teasing at its magical undercurrents, and quite forgot about bothering to try and return home until he realized it was dark.

In the course of his explorations, he discovered that in addition to having once been a birthing place for feien, this tree once served as a home for them. He discovered a passage quite by accident while examining some fairly recent damage done by a bird. The hold made by the bird (who had been disappointed by the lack of insects and flown off) was not big enough to fit Corvus, but he managed to mold the hole larger with his supple fingers until he could fit his head through.

The passage was large enough for a feien, provided the feien folded his or her wings down. Corvus spent at least an hour working on the hole more until he was finally able to get inside himself. It was dark, smelled fairly bad, but Corvus could hardly contain his excitement. A real, true ancient feien residence.

The main corridor of the tree snaked its way up the inside. Rooms were located at irregular intervals. The place was mostly empty, but Corvus found a few scraps and pieces of things. Bowls, rotting leaves (bedding?), simple stone weapons and tools of unfathomable design. There was no writing of any kind or evidence as to how these rooms might have been lit up. Certainly no one outside of a darkness feien could see inside the tree now.

Additionally, there were no gems and few personal artifacts. Corvus suspected whoever had been here had left before dying, or perhaps the last remaining person had done what seemed to be custom among the ancient feien: collected the gems of his brethren and buried them.

And after exploring a good bit of the tree, he found it was night, and went to bed curled up in his own wings.

The next day brought more adventure and discovery. He located the first exit of the tunnel. The door was hidden so well it was invisible from the outside, but when Corvus knew what to look for he soon located five more. He found a bracelet of small stone links which bore no magical signature. There was a dried and preserved wreath of grasses in one of the uppermost rooms, again, nonmagical. Some cloth scraps here, in no condition to be worn, and then a little doll made of sticks. He took some of the cloth scraps outside so he could discern their color and found two of them to be woven patterns. He suspected the thicker cloth had once been a rug.

He drank melted snow and tried to nibble on the leaves of the feien tree for sustenance. If only he possessed some sort of spell for creating food! He was an adult now, and he needed to eat, so finally in the afternoon he went flying towards the east, certain he would find civilization in that direction.

He soon ran into a small general store set alongside a long highway. The place was deserted, closed for the holidays. In a moment of annoyance, Corvus broke one of the window panes of the front door. Melding the edges of the broken glass enabled him to slip through without danger.

He gorged himself on snacks and drinks, noticed it was nearing sunset, and found a spot on top of a shelf where he could curl up and sleep.

12/29/04

He did not find the tree again immediately. Somehow it was very hard to detect the tree's presence from afar, and he ended up in what turned out to be the wrong section of forest looking for tree for several hours. He had not been in the best frame of mind when he'd gone foraging for sustenance at the general store.

So after righting his directions he found it at last the following day (after a night spent in a protective hut of melded stones) and resumed his exploration. He kept his focus on gemstones in particular. Those were of great worth.

But he couldn't find any, even after another day of searching in which he turned his attentions to the area around the tree.

There had to be something somewhere. Feien didn't just up and disappear. But where?

Corvus resolved himself to scour the rest of the forest. He would find the conspicuously absent gemstones one way or another.

1/12/05

He remained under the water for a long time, hours, all through the night, and did not sleep. Only in the morning did it occur to him that he was underwater but had no food, and his skin felt like asphalt and his eyes and lungs burned from all the salt, and that whatever the case was, he was going to die down here if he did not leave soon, only down here death would be slow and painful and miserable. For better or worse, he was leaving now.

It took three tries before he finally managed to completely leave the water. First he panicked, then he debated if this was really a better way to die, then finally decided he was going to kill himself either way and, no, he did not want to die in the fecking ocean. He remembered the ocean in Miami, how he had watched the waves across the bay at night from the comfort of Emperial's shirt, and how all he had really liked was the darkness and the shirt and the sound the ocean made. You couldn't hear it like that underwater. In fact, now that he thought about it, he couldn't hear much of anything at this point, and he had gone deaf, so he may as well leave the water.

He burst out with his wings furled around him and went zipping towards the rocky shore where he collapsed and was misted by sea spray but was free. Free. It was the last thought on his mind as he choked and shuddered and slipped away into unconsciousness.

~~~

Several hours later he came to in a most violent fashion. A sea bird had found him and picked him up in its sharp beak, jolting him to consciousness. He gave a violent yell at the awakening and instinctively shielded himself, forcing the bird off his body. It was some sort of gull, and apparently a scavenger, for when it saw that its food was alive and fighting it went flying away with upset cackles. It left in Corvus's side a fairly serious gash and he quickly fled for the shelter of the tree line.

There he was able to tend to himself and think over what had happened. The wound was quickly sealed with some healing, and Corvus was grateful he had been smart enough to pick up the spell despite its lack of combat use. He remembered he had first learned it for Simon, before the whelp had gone off and betrayed him. Yes, he was betrayed on all sides, except perhaps for Emperial, who was probably out looking for him right now. Or not.

But most importantly he was alive for some reason, and when the thought struck him he nearly laughed at his stupidity, only laughign hurt his side and he was too exhausted to do more than gasp. A favorite epithet of Emperial's came to mind: "World's Stupidest Genius."

He had not just spent the ngiht underwater because he was cursed. Cursed he may be, but he was also apparently now capable of breathing underwater. And like and idiot he had gone and assumed the choking sensation was due to some sort of inability to breathe air -- he had not been able to breathe air because his lungs were at that time filled with water!

He tried to tell himself he could not be blamed for not knowing. He was not a water feien and was not friends with any water feien that he could think of, and those spell descriptions from Julius were ever-so-vague most of the time, and he didn't even have that vaguery accessible to him out here. Besides, it was only his first time, and everyone got things wrong on the first try.

And yet he still felt like a complete fool for not having realized it sooner. A great, big, bloody, overdramatic fool. Djerod would laugh if he were here right now. Not that Corvus could picture Djerod laughing at much of anything; the Rhean had a notoriously weak sense of humor.

Now that he knew what it was, he knew he had to go back, because he had felt something while he was down there and he knew it had to be gemstones. The ocean would be the perfect place to hide gemstones from humans. He took a brief trip back to the tree and his food stash and promptly returned to the seashore.

Only to find he could not go back. His rational mind may have figured it all out but his subconscious was not listening and the thought of going back into the water so soon filled him with such great fear and revulsion he went and found the smallest, darkest hole in the feien tree and remained there for a long time.

1/19/05

He did it. He steeled himself, bit back his fear and the bile threatening to overwhelm him, and dove down into the water towards the overgrown pole. This time he made it without panicking and teleporting away, and once again began to explore.

Now that he knew the extent of his powers, the search went easily. He could stretch his magic into the water around. In shadowy places he was twice as perceptive. And then he found what he was looking for hidden down beneath the rocks and had to smile.

Pushing past the seagrass with his unwieldly wings took some time, but he managed. He actually wished a moment that he'd been born with insect wings, those trim, efficient things. Or perhaps cloth. Feathered winds were more trouble than they were worth.

The underwater passage continued quite a ways down beneath the pole. Each passing moment brought Corvus a step closer to his goal. He twisted and writhed and hoped the passage he was crawling through would not collapse and kill him. Shame he wasn't an earth elemental, too. But he still had a good idea of which way was up and could teleport away if he needed to.

He would not need to. He rounded the next bend and his senses went wild. He had found them. The gemstones.

Last page points: 21

Total for diary: 228