<P> Shifting Times (Shiana, Alcyone, & Echo)

[Sosiqui]

Shiana pushed open the windows of her bedroom to let in the cool morning breeze, smiling as the wind stirred the curtains slightly, carrying in the faint scent of baking bread and turned earth. Domestic smells, smells of household industry and agriculture. Smells that had become familiar to her, over her time spent in service to Music - over a galactic standard year, now.

Their meeting had been fate, she believed; it was surely Lady Echo's power that had called her from Pertica to this little town, filled with people who sang and smiled and followed Music with all their hearts. It had not taken long before Shiana had pledged herself too, entering the service of the kind and gentle goddess who had found her and Alcyone wandering the streets. It was just fortunate that the harpy had found a place of her own in Lady Echo's court as well.

Alcyone had stayed close, too - well, it was more accurate to say that this little house had become her home nest, though she flew far and wide with missives to and from Lady Echo. The top floor, with its wide balcony and slanted ceilings, was their small home; the bottom floor belonged to the Maclyn family. The songs of their children reached Shiana's ears through the open window too.

She took a deep breath of that rich, clean air, far better than anything on any spaceship or station. Strange, how things had turned out... but she was happy. Very happy. And now that the sky had been returned to them, perhaps she could get a message to Citadel space. Just a short one...

But messages reminded her of messengers, and the reason why she'd opened the window in the first place. The asari headed for the balcony, pushing open the doors and walking out to lean on the railing, scanning the sky. Alcyone had gone to carry another message, starting from one of the Doors - like a wormhole to another world - in the Pantheon. She was due back today. Any minute now, really...

She traced one finger along the railing, and watched the skies, leaning forward when a faint figure on the wing appeared in the distance, coming ever closer...  

[Frigoris]

"Shianaaa!" Alcyone called as she swooped down and expertly perched on the railing. "Whew, you're up early. How ya doing?" The harpy took off her leather mail bag and carelessly tossed off to one side of the balcony. "I'm glad to be done with that. Wellhaven was boring." She rolled her shoulders and resettled her wings.

"Wellhaven's temple was nice and all -- not as nice as the Pantheon but most things aren't -- but they kept insisting I have an escort while I was there!" Nothing Alcyone disliked more than being unable to stick her nose into everything.

"Acolyte Keilan was just insufferable. She took me on a tour while I waited for Captain Ghavaliel to arrive -- you would like the Captain. He's a little dour but he has a sense of humor, unlike Keilan. I have a good instinct for these types of things." Alcyone nodded knowingly. "But Keilan was all 'The inner chambers are restricted' and 'Please stop touching that statue' and 'I can't answer that so please stop asking' and blah blah blah. Sheesh. You'd think an official courier of the gods would get more respect."

She hopped down from the railing and into the house. "Got anything to eat?" She called over her shoulder. "I'm starving!"  

[Sosiqui]

"Waiting for you," Shiana replied, smiling up at her friend. "It's way too quiet when you're not around... good thing you take care of that right away when you get home," she added, her smile turning a little bit impish. Just a little bit. But Alcyone was a messenger, and a good one; she provided a very useful service to Lady Echo. Probably more useful than Shiana herself...

"I think there might be some bread and fish in the... fridge," she said, pausing so that she wouldn't say 'refrigeration unit'. Everything here was a strange blend of relatively modern, at least by her frame of reference, and the positively archaic. "And a hot kettle on the stove. Possibly. And then back to Lady Echo, after?" Even though Music lived in the Pantheon proper, Shiana always appreciated Alcyone coming back for her first, so they could go to their Lady together.  

[Frigoris]

Alcyone tugged open the fridge door with some difficulty and peered tentatively inside. She had gotten used to the magical 'electric' lights and hot water on call and other modern conveniences but she still distrusted the fridge a tiny bit -- not that she would admit it.

It was just unnatural how everything in the tiny space was stayed cold. And that tiny light! One of these days she would discover if it stayed on all the time or not.

Not right now though, she was hungry. Alcyone snatched a piece of fish and stuffed it into her mouth and then grabbed several pieces of fruit. "Couth yoov pourf mee somph teaf?" She asked Shiana around a mouth full of fish. The hot kettle was hard to pour with her stubby fingers.

She awkwardly hopped over to the table with her collection and perched on one of the chairs. "Yeah, back to the Pantheon after. I have a reply from Wellhaven to deliver." She grinned at Shiana. "I thought we could go together."  

[Sosiqui]

Shiana obediently pulled out a teabag and nestled it into a teacup before going for the kettle, an amused, tolerant smile on her face the whole time. She liked Alcyone, really - the harpy had all the brash forwardness that she herself lacked. "That would be lovely. I think I might have made a little bit of progress on my song," she said, blushing a faint purple. Songwriting did not come naturally to Shiana, not at all, but she'd been trying. For the Lady's sake. A follower of Music who couldn't produce at least a simple tune in praise to Lady Echo... well. She would never judge others, but she could and did judge herself.

She put the teacup on the table and poured herself a cup as well, settling into the other chair. "Though, ah, maybe not try the duet... this time..."  

[Frigoris]

"Aww why not?" Alcyone asked with her mouth full of fruit. "I thought we were pretty good last time." She took another bite of her banana and then switched over to a weird squashy fruit she didn't know the name of but tasted a little like a kiwi crossed with an over-ripe pear.

"Anyway, you're too hard on yourself." Alcyone said, fiddling with a discarded piece of bread. As with most harpies, her eyes were bigger than her stomach. "I'm sure Echo will like it. She likes all forms of music, after all."

Alcyone cautiously picked up her teacup, trying not to spill, and took a swallow. "Ah, it's good. Thanks."

She then refocused on Shiana. "Sing what you have for me? I can critique!"  

[Sosiqui]

Shiana turned a little bit purpler. "No! Er, I mean... not yet? I mean, I don't have lyrics yet, just a little tune and um, I wanted... it sounds better when Lady Echo is nearby," she finished, sheepishly. Part of her brain wanted to insist that sound was the same no matter who was listening, that was just science, but she had no idea where the gods fit into science and wasn't going to tackle that particular thorny issue right now.

Or ever, if she could avoid it.

"So, uh. What... what statue weren't you allowed to touch?" she asked, by way of distraction. Then she took a sip of tea - she couldn't rightly be asked to sing if her mouth was full, right?  

[Frigoris]

"Oh Illuman-min something." Alcyone said dismissively, waving a wing. "Some god of light. With butterfly wings. His statue was shiny and I was just curious how they got it that way."

"More importantly *you* are changing the subject." She focused a bit more intently on Shiana with just a bit of an impish smile on her face. "Quite awkwardly too, as a matter of fact."

Alcyone's smile turned surprisingly sympathetic. "I liked what I heard of it. Sorry I made such a botch of the duet, how was I supposed to know the Maclyn kids downstairs were taking a nap? Honestly, they're a nice family but the lady Maclyn is so finicky about such things. She was raising a big fuss about the water quality the other day too -- did you hear about that? Old pipes or whatever. So what if it's a little off-color, the water was fine. I drank it." Alcyone huffed and shook her head. "Harpies are more sensible, I think. My mother kicked me and my fledgemates out of the nest as soon as we could fly and I turned out just fine."

Alcyone set down her teacup and reached out to brush her feathers on Shiana's hand in an affectionate friendly pat. "You'll get it, I know you will."  

[Sosiqui]

"Thank you," Shiana said, smiling at the affectionate gesture before taking another sip of tea. "It isn't much, I guess - I just wanted to thank her properly for everything she's done." The gossip about the Maclyns... well, that was just Alcyone, knowing everything and sharing it as widely as she could. Shiana was used to it.

"Ready to go?" she added, looking at the bits of discarded meal. "I ate when I got up, so..."  

[Frigoris]

"Ehh, you don't need to keep bowing and scraping to Echo. How many more times are you gonna thank her, anyway?" Alcyone shook her head at her friend's overabundance of manners. She liked Shiana a lot but sometimes the Asari was just so preoccupied about saying 'please' and 'no' and 'thank you' it seemed like she did little else.

Alcyone hopped up from her seat at Shiana's question. "Sure, if you're ready." She said amiably.  

[Sosiqui]

"Until I'm satisfied," Shiana said, firmly. She got up and put her teacup in the sink for later washing - that was one thing that had lost its charm quickly, the novelty of washing dishes - and stretched, throwing her head back and looking at the slanted ceiling. "Hmmm~"

"Going to walk, this time?" she asked, slipping her feet into her boots and reflexively checking her omnitool before opening the door to the outside stairs. "Like the rest of us mortals?"  

[Frigoris]

"Uh-huh." Alcyone said, knowing that Shiana's 'satisfied' probably would not be for a good long while yet -- if ever. She wisely decided not to press the issue.

When her friend got up from the table, Alcyone obediently followed suit and added her teacup to the sink. Shiana never said anything about dirty dishes or forgotten discarded bits of food (probably out of politeness) but the harpy quickly realized that if she was to keep her roommate happy she'd need to be more careful about cleaning up after herself.

Alcyone smiled smugly to herself as she brushed away most of the crumbs off the table. That was yet another thing wings were good for: built in feather duster. Of course, she was oblivious to the fact that the crumbs just landed on the floor and didn't make the place that much cleaner on the whole. But hey, she was trying.

Alcyone grabbed her discarded mailbag off the balcony as Shina put on her boots. "I guess I can walk." She said with a reluctant curl of her lip as she watched Shiana fiddle with that orange omitool thing the Asari kept on her wrist. "Though really you should just learn how to fly." Alcyone grinned cheekily. "It's easy, I'll show you sometime."

She hopped towards the stairs. "Well, shall we? The marketplace always gets so crowded much later in the morning and you know how I hate it when people step on my feathers." Alcyone fanned out her blue tail feathers in emphasis.

"I mean really, I know I'm short but people should pay more attention. Y'know Ternil, the cabbage vendor? I found out from his wife that he more nearsighted than a mole! That explains why he nearly ran me over with his wagon last time even though he says he didn't see me and that one fish monger over by the canal road...." Alcyone kept merrily chirping on as she descended the stairs.  

[Sosiqui]

Shiana followed Alcyone down the stairs, being careful not to step on the harpy's tailfeathers either, an amused smile on her face. She wasn't naturally social, but Alcyone was social enough for about ten people. It worked out.

The streets were starting to fill; it was a lovely day, all sunshine and gentle breezes, the most lovely planetside spring the asari had seen in a while. There was always a small stream of people heading towards the Pantheon to pay their respects or present petitions to the gods. It was easy enough to fall in with the other penitents, heading towards the gleaming marble buildings just over the rolling hills. "Did the Captain you met tell you anything about the message?" she asked, curiously, looking at Alcyone's messenger bag.  

[Frigoris]

Alcyone hopped along the road, occasionally fluttering quickly out of the way to avoid getting too jostled by some distracted penitent or another. It was already starting to get pretty crowded.

A traveler along side her was readjusting his large knapsack, carelessly swinging the bag around and almost beaning Alcyone in the face. "Hey, watch it!" She yelled as she ducked. The traveler started and then quickly looked around for the source of the voice. It took him a moment to think to look down and spot the harpy. Alcyone sighed and nodded impatiently at his stuttered apology. "It's okay just be more careful."

Well, at least walking along she had people to talk to. She turned her attention to Shiana on her other side and then feigned horror at her friend's question. "Peep at Echo's messages? Why Shiana, I'm shocked."

She grinned at the Asari. "Just kidding." Alcyone refolded her wings and kept pace as best she could. "Actually, Captain Ghavaliel didn't have much of anything to say. He just frowned when he read Echo's message and then bade me wait while he wrote a reply." She shrugged and then fished out the letter from her bag. The envelope was closed with a very official looking seal. "I have no idea what it says."

Alcyone shoved the letter back into her pack. "Hopefully Echo will tell us. I'm curious too."  

[Sosiqui]

Shiana made a face at Alcyone's laughing 'accusation'. "Of course not! Just curious," she said, defending herself even though it wasn't really needed. Still, something in her had to make the objection. She would never do anything even slightly shady when it came to the Lady's dealings! Or... when it came to anything, really.

... Other than how she'd gotten here in the first place...

It was an old pang by now, the guilt at leaving Arli, Menkoli and the rest of the stranded crew behind on Pertica. With the sky restored, surely the remnants of the allied Council species had drawn together once more and begun rebuilding, heard their distress signal and picked them up? It wasn't as if Pertica was a hellish place, either, other than the fact that it had become a trap...

But she'd abandoned them for a... an emotion. A feeling that had been so strong, then ebbed when she'd come here and met the Lady Echo. Surely that meant a 'divine' calling, a form of providence that absolved her of guilt? Logically, it worked.

Emotionally... it didn't. Not entirely.

Shiana pushed the feeling away. She'd go and see Lady Echo, and all doubts would dissolve in her presence. The Pantheon was close now, and Shiana stepped off onto a smaller path, heading for the building where Lady Music made her home. "Remind me to ask about... about the spaceport nearby. I'd like news from home," she said, because part of her really did want news, if any was to be had, and also because it was right and proper to want such a thing.

Running and hiding in shame was all too tempting, though...



((Maybe one more post from Alcyone and then we can arrive and bring in Echo? <3))