[SOLO] Aftershocks (Aeroniel)

[Seiana_ZI]

Aeroniel couldn't have been happier to split off from her beloved Queen and the rest of their Court.

That night, she honestly just needed time to herself.

The day had been hard and gruelling. They were away from the Waters, first of all, on that disgusting thing called land. No matter how long they had been part of the land called Telrunya Isle now, Aeroniel barely ever wanted to leave Tuatha'Ri Lake and its branches. She did not belong with the land pae, nor did she want to. That was not home, to her. Home was within the Water and with those whom she concerned to be close, like Tariel...

But tonight, she needed to even be away from her. The feeling seemed to be mutual with how quickly Tariel split off, and so, she would not pursue. Turin seemed to be going after her anyway, and with how strange their relationship had seemed lately, Aeroniel was entirely certain she did not want to get involved with that even if she did wish to speak to her dear friend. Knocking some sense into her head could wait for another day, after Aeroniel had gotten her alone time.

Being alone sounded so blissful right now, and Aeroniel took off almost as quickly as Tariel had. She didn't necessarily live all that far from the throne room, being the Queen's Second, but she took all of her efforts to take detours just so she would not run into the Queen on the way.

Thankfully, her worries were for naught.

The only company she had now was her own self and the occasional thoughts that ran through her mind, both hers and not hers. For most people, that would be hard to get used to. For Aeroniel? It was a way of life. The thoughts that were not hers were things that she was used to ambiently hearing. For those that were not used to it, Aeroniel had to admit, her thoughts and subconscious would probably look like they belonged to someone who thought they were multiple people at once...

Too bad there was no way to project her thoughts at that Vanya woman. Maybe baffling her so badly would have thrown her off her game or gotten her to leave them alone. That would have been ideal. Maybe, by the end of the day, they would not have been so mixed up or stressed out if they were not getting inundated by insane land Pae'il assisted so-called "visions."

Visions? Ha!

Aeroniel was willing to believe there was some truth to what they were being told. Bits of it matched up with what they had been told years ago by another land Pae, Diana, but most of it was so ... out there that she couldn't even pretend to get it. The whole idea of living once in the past alone was enough to baffle her, though maybe it was natural it did. Aeroniel, after all, was not someone Vanya was able to find anything for.

That was probably because Vanya knew that Aeroniel would not go along with the land Pae'il stories and fantastical, depressing images.

-- Or was it? Did she really even belong with --

No, Aeroniel belonged where she was. There was no question of that. Where she belonged was not the concern here.  

[Seiana_ZI]

Perhaps what bothered Aeroniel the most was how easily her other companions had fallen into the chaos.

It had not taken a terrible amount for them to agree to let Vanya walk them through what they were calling "visions of the past"--visions of what they supposedly once were when they were supposedly a fully awakened Court, like they supposedly weren't now. That bothered her too, for that matter. Who were they to say that their current court was not the correct court?!

The nerve!

Land Pae'il had no right to just barge in to Sea Pae'il affairs and declare that what they were doing or how they were behaving or how they had formed together or who formed the group was wrong. It was none of their business! No one asked them for their opinion and--

Okay Tariel had, but only after some level of indignant reluctance--

But it wasn't like they needed to give one! It wasn't their place, and it certainly was not their place to reject that she belonged with the Queen. That was where she had stood all her life and that was where she was going to continue to stand!

Aeroniel felt the rage boiling in her veins at the thought, and growled to herself, swiftly swimming over to her icebox. She snapped a pouch of something particularly potent out of the icebox and slammed the door of it shut, immediately moving to nurse the drink. It felt warm going down, and it was enough to abate the rage for now, Aeroniel letting out a deep breath that she did not know she was holding on to. Her body rested back against the ice box, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment.

Mariya. That was a name she heard. That was the name of the one that Turin and Tariel were being told or were seeing as some sort of betrayer. Why would the faun show them this nonsense? Was it to weaken them and to mix them up? She saw no malice in them, but neither could she see any reasonable explanation as to why their illusionist-seer would think it was such an excellent idea to walk the both of them through such horrid experiences of people that were not even necessarily them. Of course Tariel was Alu, that much was obvious, but...

Aeroniel took another drink.

All of this seemed like total nonsense. None of it made any sense ... okay, maybe some of it made the slightest amount of sense, but nothing else did. Itsaso was right--they had wasted too much of their time on this land Pae'il nonsense, and it wore on Aeroniel greatly. Visions of the past... What nonsense.

The idea that someone could somehow magically see auras that deciphered who and what other pae were, too? That just sounded like insanity, even before the readings she magically derived--and failed to explain, in some cases. The thought of Vanya bothered her because she could not explain it, and worse, because she kept doing things to those around her that never seemed to make things any better.

The Second slid to the floor, resting arms against her bent tail.  

[Seiana_ZI]

Aeroniel set the drink aside for now. Maybe she shouldn't drink so much.

The situation she was in was not worth furthering the headaches she tended to wake up with. What Aeroniel really needed to do here was keep her head clear and her mind focused and sharp. That was the only way that she would get to the bottom of ... whatever this nonsense was.

Aeroniel boosted herself up, swimming around her abode in an attempt to bring some more energy into dried and tired tailfins. Today had just been a long day for all of them. Perhaps, tomorrow, Tariel and Turin and all of them would be thinking more clearly, like herself and that new supposed Court member, Itsaso. If they all got some rest, maybe they would realize how silly some of this really sounded.

Was Itsaso really a part of their Court, though? Even if there was no reasonable way that some Land Pae'il could possibly tell what truly went on under the Waters, she had to wonder if they were right about her.

From what she had read from the other naiad in the past, she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

Perhaps she was a replacement for Sadron, considering she had trained under him. That would be nice. Aeroniel had never been particularly fond of Sadron and had mostly tolerated him for the sake of the Queen herself, even if she didn't show her toleration all that much in personal interactions. When he was suspended from duty, Aeroniel had to squeeze her hands hard behind her back to stop herself from visibly rejoicing.

If there was a new member that might guarantee that Sadron never returned, that would be ... lovely in ways that Aeroniel could not quite describe.

It would probably depress Tariel, though, and Tariel seemed to have enough problems on her plate, especially with a new dose of land nonsense that she needed to worry herself with. The last thing Tariel needed was something legitimate coming from that mess, that her Court was indeed incorrect and incomplete as it currently stood. Aeroniel did not see the problems with it that the faun seemed so insistent on reading with their image-conjuring blind mystic. They just needed to grow, together, because what they had worked.

And she especially belonged as Tariel's second.

The Waters would have never let her stand in Tariel's place if she was not meant to be there...

Right?

Aeroniel did not like the uncomfortable thought and shook it out of her head, swimming towards where she rested her head at night. Maybe some sleep could do some good. She could remove herself further from how utterly frustrating that whole visit had been, and look at it with renewed eyes in the morning.  

[Seiana_ZI]

Pleased, Aeroniel rested her eyes, placing her head on the soft pillows. This was nice. She felt better already. Sleep would definitely help in this situation. All she needed to do was let her fall into the peaceful thing called sleep, and maybe then, she wouldn't be stuck thinking of what had happened today. Her brain would work it out overnight, right? Perhaps without the interruptions of--

Aeroniel touched at her lips.

Something felt like it tingled, in her mind -- perhaps one of the guards nearby was doing something. Aeroniel rolled her eyes, burying her head into her pillow. No problem. She didn't have to worry about--

The thoughts of joy radiated in her direction, thoughts flooding her of happiness and eagerness, of hope and desperation, of--

Did she just hear Tariel?

She should have known. What did Tariel do when she was mixed up? Aeroniel knew better. She should have gone after her and made sure she didn't do anything crazy. It was harmless though, right? Tariel did this fairly often, but nothing ever seemed to come of it afterwards. It was usually with just random men she met that occasionally had been admiring her for a while. Honestly, it wasn't too uncommon in naiad society for people to be more free with themselves--

Stay in this moment. Make new memories.

I've always been her devoted protector. Perhaps, for one night, I can be her devoted lover--

Aeroniel felt her blood run cold.

Turin.

Tariel and ... Turin were ... were they gonna ... they ... oh ... oh Alu. Oh Alu why--

"Oh Great Alu, smite me where I lay, for I do not wish for these eyes anymore," murmured Aeroniel, burying her head in her pillow even further, before rolling over. She gave up. There was no way she was getting to sleep with this non--

Oh good. Tariel was thinking a bit more. Maybe they'd stop or something, and she wouldn't have to suffer these thoughts anymore. She could handle emotional Tariel. She was always emotional. That was a state she had always been in. Heartbreak was a new monster but she could live with it. At least Turin and Tariel wouldn't be doing mind-scarring things if that was the case. None of that ever.

At least, that was what she had been hoping. The thoughts the two were having were taking a turn back in the exact direction she didn't want them to take. There was a murmur that went through Tariel's mind, likely from Turin, that everyone but Tariel probably already knew.

I've always loved you, Tari.

Alu dammit! So much for them not doing anything. Tariel was mentally going on about admitting Eros and then there was more nonsense about new memories and Turin doing something or other with devious intentions and --

Augh she didn't need those thoughts at all!

No!

Aeroniel immediately swam back to her ice box, swiped up the pouch she had dropped, and started slurping on it like no tomorrow.

This was gonna be a long night...