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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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 Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 1:33 pm
Talanah eased her way out of her room, being as careful as she could to not make a sound. She wanted to be alone for this. It wasn’t that she didn’t want her family knowing, she just felt like it was something that was wholly personal and she wanted to experience it on her own. When morning came, it would be rather obvious on what she had done during the night. She stepped out onto the upper balcony, closing the door behind her and settling down into a chair with a small pack she’d brought with her.
Reaching into the bag she pulled the kiandri orb she’d grabbed from her fathers’ stash out. Sitting it in her lap, she stared at it, watching as the magic inside the orb swirled around. It almost looked as if a storm were happening inside the soul orb. And, she supposed, it kind of was. She ran her fingertips lightly over the surface and closed her eyes as she felt a faint, dull spark of energy shoot out from the orb and into her fingers.
All the clans held great power. Ysali and peisio could heal, you could burn many homes down with the power of the firani, gaili was strong and you controlled the very earth beneath a person’s feet, with a single snap you could freeze someone in their tracks if you were an aiskala and ayralas had the very wind at their fingertips. Kiandri, though, was magnificent in Tala’s eyes. The very thought of the energy one could feel during a storm made goosebumps rise on Tala’s skin. She loved the idea of being able to control one of her very favorite parts of a storm.
Tala pushed up from her chair, being sure to keep a good grip on the orb, lest she drop it before she was completely ready. The only person she’d really talked about her clan choice to was her sister. Papa and daddy had inquired but made sure to remind her that it was a choice not to be taken lightly. She was young, after all. But she had done her research, she had gone over the pros and cons of each clan and narrowed it down to what she thought would fit her. In the end, kiandri had been the choice. She had waited, after deciding, to see if her mind would change. When it didn’t, she had decided on how she would go about it.
When she reached the railing, Tala raised up on her tippy toes and leaned over. The deck below reached out a bit farther than the upper balcony. She placed the orb on the railing, rolling it beneath her hand and watching the bolts of lightning as they struck inside. Closing her eyes, Tala took a deep breath and pushed the orb over the edge of the balcony railings. The time it took for the orb to travel through the air and to the deck below seemed like ages. When it finally struck, she heard the cracking sound. Her eyes shot open just in time to see the lightning arc up from below and up into the sky.
Following its course, Tala’s eyes widened as it seemed to arc back down and straight towards her. She stumbled backwards a few steps. She had read about what happened when one broke an orb for their clan choosing. So she had been aware that the magic would surround her. However, being there and actually experiencing it was completely different from just reading about it. She sucked in a break as the bolt hit her square in the chest. She flinched, eyes snapping shut, completely expecting it to hurt but when she only felt a mild tingle and her body warmed, Tala opened her eyes.
Tala watched as the electricity arced in and out of her, a small grin spreading across her face. Unbeknownst to her, the color of her eyes was changing over to a golden yellow along with stripes of yellow coming into her hair. Her horns and scales followed suit, the golden color standing out brightly against her dark skin.
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:46 pm
Tanarah jerked upright from a dead sleep, eyes wide and pulse fast, though she did not immediately register why—
Then, her brain began catching up with her body: the light in the room, the cackle of magical energy in the air, the sound from just outside her room, and after that—her sister’s empty bed, and the open doorway to the patio deck that overlooked the sea. Shoving her sleep addled body into motion, Tana swung her legs over the side of the mattress, not even bothering at first to drag on her nightdress in her concern for her sister’s well-being. Only a moment of observation, though, once she did come into line of sight of her, relaxed her initial tension. Talanah was not hurt. There were no dragons. No invaders.
Confusion slipped into place next, and Tana squinted in the darkness, reaching out half-blindly to snag up her nightshirt and pull it on before stepping out barefoot onto the deck. In the full light of the risen moon, she noted the changes. Her sister’s hair, her scales, and — finally — her eyes. Something in Tanarah stirred then, in that first moment — some strange, convoluted brew of realization, wonder, thrill, energy, and a its faintest: jealousy. Talanah carried in her the magic of a clan.
Heat swept into Tana’s cheeks, and a moment later, she was grinning and crouching. “Oi, you didn’t tell me—had to wake me up and give me half a heart attack instead, did you?” She reached out with the question, dusting her thumb over the scales at her sister’s cheek because she couldn’t help but be curious, and a prickle of anticipation travelled through her. “What was it like…?”
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:49 pm
Tala blinked as the magic died down and she heard her sister’s voice. When Tana moved in and brushed her finger over Tala’s scales she blushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” She grinned at her sister’s next question and threw her arms open wide. “It was pretty awesome! The feeling of the magic traveling through me was exhilarating. Though it was a little scary at first. There was so much lightning and when it first came at me, I was worried it’d hurt. But it didn’t! It was tingly and warm and…alive.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:10 pm
Downstairs, though the sound came more muted from the upper floor, Lithian woke at the first crack, his eyes opening and mind awake. He had never been a heavy sleeper, and that translated fully into his later years. Noting that the sound of disturbance came from his daughters’ room, he shook his mate awake. “Casseth…Casseth, something is going on with the girls. I am going upstairs.”
After ascertaining that his mate was at least waking if not fully awake yet, Lithian leaned to press a kiss to his cheek before slipping quickly into loose outer garments and moving out of their room and up the stairs. From the sound of things, it was no attack — and Lithian trusted he would have woken before now, if it were — so he was not especially concerned, but the occurrences out of the ordinary alerted him to something worthy of at least investigating.
He found both of the girls on the outer balcony, and blinked, lighting the way further with a murmur of a spell to call small orbs of light to his palm. “Tanarah, Talanah…what is…?” Then, he noted his daughter’s state, and his eyebrows rose, amusement plucking at the corners of his lips and pride swelling warm in his chest. “What’s this? All the fanfare and I wasn’t even invited…” His smile, though, was bright and gentle, eyes dancing as he stooped to a crouch beside her. “Little lightning bug, hmm? It suits you, Tala…”
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:22 pm
Cas grunted, already half away from the noise and commotion above them. “Mmm, ok.” He yawned as Lithian exited the room, knowing full well that if Lithian thought something serious was happening, he’d had him out of bed in no time. So he took his time rolling out of bed and dragging on clothes. As he padded, barefoot, out of their room, Cas could feel the leftover energy from something. He just wasn’t sure what that something was. He made his way up the stairs and out onto the balcony just in time to see Lithian kneel down in front of Tala. His eyebrow raised as he noted the changes in her appearance and Lithian spoke.
Tala flushed again and looked away. First her sister had been disappointed about not being there and now daddy was as well. Had she made the right choice on doing it by herself? When he spoke again, she looked up and saw the smile and look to his eyes and couldn’t help but smile back. “It suits me? Really?” Her smile turned into a grin as her papa stepped forward. “Guess what I did, daddy!”
Cas blinked and looked around, feigning ignorance. “Hm? What?”
Tala pursed her lips and pointed to her eyes. “I picked my clan!”
Casseth laughed and moved over to his daughter. “Oh! So you did.” He squatted, giving her a kiss on her cheek, glanced over to Tana and winked.
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:36 pm
Tanarah relaxed back as their fathers arrived, her mind wandering as they doted on her. She was proud. Very much so. But watching her sister take on her own clan couldn’t help but inspire a curious envy in her — a want for that next level of power, natural to the part of them that carried dovaa blood — and it was that thought that predominated as the others talked, turning over and over again what it would be like. How it would feel. Which of the seven elements she wanted streaming through her veins eternal.
Ayrala and gaili, the earth and the sky, continued to reign supreme in her debates, but something always edged at her, needling in the back of her mind each time she tried to pick one over the other, as though neither was quite right. She blamed that, though, on indecision. Then, a stray glance towards their papa caught his attention on her, and she blinked. When he winked, she stared for a long moment, startled and unresponsive. Then, her eyelids pinched inwards suspiciously, narrowing to slits.
What was that supposed to mean.
A moment later, her daddy’s chuckle — and hand in her hair, ruffling it — turned the squint into a huff and a squirm as she batted the hand away. In the end, though, despite her own uncertainty and the warmth in her cheeks betraying her abashment, she was thrilled for her sister. This was an exciting night.
She grinned, and leaned over to kiss her sister’s cheek. “Hope you know, I am callin’ you lighting bug from now on out,” she teased.
It seemed, she thought, fairly fair — all things being equal.
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