about Name: Elsheba (Elly) Race: Alkidike Gender: Female Class: Warrior Future Class: Guardian Significant Other: Ujiri Children: Adopted mother of Nimueh Description: Elsheba is muscular, with large breasts, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist. Her expression is likely to be one of cool control, a broad smile, or a look of pride - possibly furrowed, thick eyebrows, elongated nose, and wide lips. Her hair is heavily dreaded, long - to her waist, with shorter dreads swept to frame the right side of her face.
Accessories: No notable accessories
personality 3 Base Traits: Self-Righteous, Protective, Stubborn
The oldest of four sisters, Elsheba was entrusted with numerous responsibilities at a young age. As the eldest, it was her responsibility to help protect her family - to feed them, clothe them, and ensure their safety. This dedication to her family extends to her Alkidike sisters, instilling a fierce loyalty and dedication to her people in her. She harbors an intense respect for Aisha, and in her youth she believed that anyone born from a bloom was blessed by Aisha, hybrid or not, and should be accepted. This belief led her to adopt a young abandoned hybrid when she, herself, was just a prentice, despite the fact she lacked any sort of maternal instinct to speak of.
Despite having so much responsibility on her shoulders, Elly avoids the stress of being a provider by allowing a more playful side to appear from time to time. With all the threats of the world, it's easy to become grim and defensive - so Elly does what she can to loosen up her fellow Alkidike sisters by putting on a smile and tugging them into all sorts of ill-advised adventures. To her, playfulness and being responsible aren't mutually exclusive - the importance is knowing when the games must stop, and when they are of utter importance to keep a group (or family) balanced.
Beyond day to day life, Elly is fiercely protective of any she deems worthy of her affections. She feels that loyalty is paramount in Alkidike culture, especially with the upheavals her people have gone through as time as passed.
This fierce loyalty could also be her greatest fault. She feels righteous indignation/fury at anyone whose ideals aren't up to her expectations - anyone unwilling to pull their weight when necessary easily earns her disdain. Elly has somewhat of a utilitarian approach - fun is good, important, and necessary for easing stress, but too much of it is something she views as wasteful. She has a tendency to take too much responsibility on her shoulders, and when it comes down to relinquishing that responsibility, she deems few people as worthy of handing the load to. In this vein Elly trusts those around her to watch her back, but she doesn't trust them to see the big picture as she does - to do as good a job as she can.
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 3:02 pm
History
Before Tendaji As a youngling, when Elly was an only child, she lived with her parents in the settlement of Emeka, which her young parents viewed as a more close-knit, intimate place to raise their child. There she lived for a few short years, the apple of her mothers' eyes; a natural born tree climber, and an easy going, generally happy child. When she was still quite young, toddling about under the watchful eye of a neighbor, her mothers returned to the Isles to pray for another little girl - and were rather... surprised to be gifted with three little lotuses instead.
Suddenly their little family was much bigger. While the lotuses were being cared for, Elly's parents made plans to move their family to Andile, where they could be closer to Elly's grandparents, needing all the help they could get to care for their brood of children. Many other siblings would be resentful for such a big change, but Elly took to the changes easily, and once her sisters were born she adored them immensely and was eager to do anything she could to help take care of them.
While her grandmothers and one of her mothers went to hunt, Elly stayed at home with her Mami to help care for the many younglings, but quickly found it wasn't to her taste. Stir crazy from being kept so close to home, and assured that they would be safe (and amused) together with their Mami and grandmothers, Elsheba begged to accompany her elders on the hunt - and once she got a bow in her hand she was hooked.
Hunting and exploring is where she's most at home; what could be better than marveling at the beauty of the world around her, while also bringing meat home for her family? Elsheba was... IS... content with her lot in life. Well, at least she was - until the war.
With the war over, the world is open for exploration - and with so many new races, places, and things to learn - in the name of Mother Aisha and the Alkidike, of course - it's becoming harder and harder to find an excuse to stay tied to her family home.
Elsheba is a leader, she's one who wants to take care of people - but she also is very curious. She wants to learn, and she wants to explore - but that desire and wonder harshly conflicts with her own utility-centric viewpoints. Wanting to travel has no functional purpose, despite how badly she wants it, so she doesn't pursue it. The end of the war gives her an excuse to travel as she wants to... to see the world, to get a feel for the foreigners
Elsheba is that leader/warrior who does things, she tells herself, for the good of others - but it's HER definition of what's good. That corruptable selflessness that could turn selfish, and that drive for power that makes her vulnerable to her own vices if left to herself. The sort of person who is all 'stars and rainbows, friendliness and smiles, but if you don't do things my way I'll break your legs'.
Children After the war, the world seemed so close - the decision to travel out onto the open road and take a pilgrimage throughout Tendaji was floating about her head temptingly. Her sisters, she assured herself, would get along without her - they were triplets, had three grandmothers to play with, as well as two loving mothers. Surely one more figure in the household was simply overdoing it!
Then a night came that changed her life forever. One night, having struck out far from Andile and into the Shifter forests, Elsheba stumbled across a halfling babe amidst the carnage of his parents' graves. Hunted by a radaku, the parents had used the last of their efforts to hide their son in a tree- and having saved the babe, Elsheba found herself responsible for finding him a home.
But pro-halfling sentiment isn't common among the Alkidike - after the war, families were settling down to try and regain their normal lives, and there were already enough orphaned Alkidike toddling about due to the losses from battle. And so Elsheba was left with a choice - to take the child in herself, or to leave him where his chances were less certain.
Once again she was tied down to Andile- and while a part of herself was hugely resentful (she was no more a maternal figure now than she had been as a prentice) she still cares deeply for her adopted child, Nimueh.
Even if her family doesn't view his presence as kindly as she does.
birth family Levonn (mother): Elsheba was Levonn's eldest, and while they got along in their passion for hunting, Levonn differs hugely from Elsheba on politics and viewpoints. They began to grow apart, as Elsheba grew older. Bringing Nimueh home was the final straw, and while Levonn allowed him to stay, she openly criticizes Elsheba for it.
Senza (Mami): Suffering her wife's viewpoints with quiet patience, Senza is more level headed and learned. She has little skill with a weapon, but is content to stay home with her daughters and care for them, and teach them. When the triplets were born, she needed all the help she could get from Elsheba - but now, as they grow up into prentices, she focuses on doing what she can to impart her daughters with love and affection. She also took care of Nimueh, Elsheba's son, when he was an infant.
children Nimueh:Son (adopted) =="I found him as a newbloom. How was I supposed to just... Well. He's mine now, and that's what's important. I sent him with Samoset to Tale, to be safe from the war." Elsheba loves Nimueh dearly- even if she isn't the most maternal. Without realizing, she imparted in him a wariness around Alkidike that alienated him from them, and made him feel like an outcast.
family Anya:sister =="My weird little sister - I love her, she's so smart, but her cleanliness is so strange!!!" Elsheba's little sister. Elsheba helped raise her, when she was younger. Ashani:sister =="Sweet Ashani - if only all of our sisters had her sweetness." Elsheba's little sister. Elsheba helped raise her, when she was younger. Lumikani:sister =="Lumi... she's been banished. What will mother say? I should have done more to convince her, to protect her -" Elsheba's little sister. Elsheba helped raise her, when she was younger.
This Quest is for Elsheba who is striving to become a Blade.
OOC ||. The quest prompt must be answered with a 2000 word reply (can be more). ||. Respond to the prompt given with an adventure of your own creation as long as it meets the requirements of the specific tasks. ||. NPCs may be used as long as they advance the quest in an interesting manner. ||. You cannot include any playable characters other than the quest taker. ||. Your responses will be graded with a Pass or Fail. Those who fail will have to continue with assistance from the staff. ||. Questions about quests can be asked here.
IC
It was late in the night when she had heard it. Piercing through the forest in Andile, it was a shrieking sound. Until close enough to the source, it was hard to tell that it was a baby making the noise. Swaddled still in a cloth, it raised its fists and screamed out to the world. It was alone, it needed care. There were marks on the floor around it, scratches and blood. The parents had been killed, and the little Alkidike hybrid was left in the open.
If something wasn't done soon, there was no doubt that the baby wouldn't be able to survive.
Quest Tasks ||. This quest should begin with Elsheba finding the baby. ||. Finding that the parents are dead, Elsheba must decide what to do with the child. ||. Elsheba can decide to take the child to Eshe, or to find a home for it herself. ||. If taken to Eshe, she will be instructed to find a home for it anyways (the home should be Alkidike parents regardless of whether she has gone to Aisha or not). ||. Most Alkidike parents do not want hybrid children. The quest should end with Elsheba finding a suitable home for the baby.
It wasn't unusual for Elsheba to patrol the forest around Andile at night... but it WAS strange for her to head out so far. The energetic blade constantly itched for action, fingers antsy and impatient, and often she found her mind too twisted with thoughts of the day, tasks to accomplish, for her to rest easy. Her days used to be a full time affair - hunting often began early in the mornings, before the sun began to gleam on the vivid purples and pinks of the trees. Traps were to be set or checked, foes to track - often hunts could last weeks, until a patrol of Alkidike with Elsheba among them strayed far into Jauhar.
Such a long hunt used to be commonplace, but lately with the war it was more common that Elsheba made the rounds of the forest, grew frustrated at the lack of animals, and retreated home without much luck. With the war, and so many foreigners traipsing through the hunting lands, the beasts had been over hunted - or scared away to new lands, as yet unfound. It was more likely to find a trapped beast nowadays than to actually succeed on the hunt, and so the days went by nearly empty handed.
At the very least, the Alkidike were surviving. The rivers offered healthy bounties of fish, trapped beneath the ice by the cold, and though the canopies were more sparse nowadays due to the winter's chill, there were still meaty nuts to be found, if not the dried fruits long saved for winter. For a hunter, however, it was frustrating to find your skills so wasted. At night, by herself, one figure amongst the chattering of nocturnal life, at least there was a quiet promise and hope of a catch - at least something that she could bring home to her family, if not enough to share with other sisters in turn.
For a short ways Elsheba's feet traced a well-worn path of limbs, large and graceful, meeting at locked wrists where she could make a zigzagged path from tree to tree, crossing more ground in the wide boughs than she could on foot, amidst the brush and slushy ice. She was far from Andile, but only by a half hour or so of walking the treeline - far into virgin territory, untamed and lush with nightlife. Tracking footprints left in the snow - foreign, strange looking claw marks that were gouged deep in the mud, indicating a heavy, hopefully meaty creature- Elsheba had her bow drawn, keen eyes scanning the forest floor far below her for any sign of motion.
She heard it before she saw it - a cry wretched and ear-piercing, nearly silencing the chattering night noises of the forest. Elsheba froze, alerted, trying to feel out where the sounds came from. She felt her way, foot by foot, towards the sound - hoping it was some sort of dying creature, perhaps, that she could use as a distraction for hunting what had nabbed it - but when Elly finally dropped from the treeline and into the clearing, she wished he hadn't hoped such a thing.
The scene was... gruesome. Settled high in the junction of tree limbs, which she could barely reach by leaning up onto her toes and stretching with all her might, was a wrapped child - whimpering and bawling, its feet having kicked off the blanket around it in the midst of its wriggling. At the very least, the creature seemed unaware of the chaos strewn just feet below it - and was more alarmed by suddenly being cold. Perhaps it had slept soundly in its blanket, peacefully unaware?
Whatever the case, below it was a mess of footprints, mud and blood strewn about the clearing, grass ripped up in the scene of a fight. On the ground was a slain beast - its horns curved, maw stretched wide, slumped over a spearpoint that had been driven into its throat. Its claws had ensured that the attacker's victory was short lived. Beneath the weight of the dead creature (a janarim, she realized, she had heard of them after the war ended and reports of the oban's strange creatures spread around) was an Alkidike woman - yet her hair was not dreaded, but instead bound up, straightened and worn like an earthling.
At the base of the tree, his neck torn out, looking to have only just finished depositing the child in the safety of the tree branches, was an ice earthling man. Elsheba surveyed the scene, her bow drawn as she angled her way around the creature, checking it as best she could by sight alone to ensure it truly had died. Only once she was sure did she turn to the tree, reaching to pluck the child from the tree branches - an easier feat with her added height than it would have been for the ice man - and quickly tugged the blankets back around the child's legs, swaddling clumsily, but tightly.
The child was a newborn - possibly just released from her lotus within a few days. Tiny and pathetic, her body itself was the spitting image of any other alkidike babe, except for the coloration, odd crystals, and noticeable lack of antennae. Bright blue skin, a mess of dreaded blue hair, and bright yellow eyes - now shimmering with tears as she sniffled and nuzzled into her warmth.
Holding the babe against her chest, and disliking the way it left her unable to draw her bow, Elsheba turned her gaze back over the horrible scene.
'Was this a punishment, Aisha? A punishment for the Alkidike who defiled her hair, and begged for a child without honoring you properly?' Elsheba found herself thinking - but she quickly cursed and shook her head. Such thoughts about the dead were shameful - but the evidence, she felt, was in her arms - a child given, parents punished. Pushing the thoughts roughly aside, Elsheba stepped to the bodies of the parents, slipping her bow until it was held on her shoulder, the bow string tight against her underarm, and used her free hand to gingerly search their bodies. On the woman was nothing more than a spear and a necklace, made of shining stones - which Elsheba took, not for herself, but for some memento for the child - while on the man... the man carried supplies. Plenty of food, untouched - fruit and dried fish, giving the hint they'd been in the area for a while. His bag also held odd assortments - strange beads and bobbles, polished square shaped rocks that she'd never seen before, but held little interest for her. All that she felt was special she packed in the satchel, then set the babe down long enough to snap the head of the spear off, wiping the bloodied head against the grass until mostly clean.
Elsheba felt it possible the babe would want the spearhead of her Alkidike mother, and what other personal effects there were to give.
If she were a crueler woman, she would toss all evidence of the parents aside and ensure the child grew up a proper alkidike, but after seeing the evidence that they'd died to protect their child, it felt wrong to defile their memory. She longed to bury them, but the ground was far too hard from the cold - so instead she settled with arranging their bodies so they lay against the base of the tree together, a silent shrine. She'd return later, if she could, to properly bury what scavenging animals left behind. The thought was morbid, but for now - now the child mattered more, Elsheba told herself.
Inhaling sharply, still unused to seeing death, or her own reactions to it, the Alkidike awkwardly adjusted the child in her arm and wished for some sort of sling to carry her in.
-
The trip back to Andile took longer than getting out to the site had - unable to climb the trees, Elly had to settle for walking by foot. Trees, bushes, and streams blocked her progress, and it took time to get around them. On a normal night it would have been wise to clamber up a tree and wait until morning, but she was ill prepared for a night in the cold, and the child had already been exposed far too long. By the time she had returned to her home, dawn was peaking and she was bleary eyed from a day without rest. But despite walking so far, there was no respite from the demands for explanations. While her sisters peered on, sleepy as they ate their breakfast, Elsheba's mother herded her to the next room, motioning for Elsheba to sit. Once settled, cross-legged, on the pelt-covered floor, Elsheba removed the little sister from her swaddle and wrinkled her nose at the permeating stench of a dirty babe.
"What-- what is the meaning of this, El? A child, are you insane?" Her mother hissed, tilting her head towards the doorway and keeping her voice low so the girls wouldn't overhear. Elsheba didn't need to be told about how tight supplies were right now - even if the war was over, it was still difficult to hunt or trade enough for food, and every bit of food that could be scrounged for the family of nine was needed. And yet... why was her mother looking at her so firmly, so full of disappointment? After a moment, the older woman’s attention turned to the child, flinching at the bright blue of its skin. "What outsider have you had dalliances with? When did this happen?! I know Eshe wouldn't allow it, not during wartime, surely--"
"She didn't." Elsheba murmured, unaffected by the flabbergasted look as she pat the chubby cheek of the whimpering, cold thing, rubbing what warmth she could into the little babe through her own cold fingers. After a moment, Elsheba finally pulled the dirtied cloth aside, only to stare at the strange anatomy of the little sister. Why, it wasn't a sister at all - not in the way Elsheba understood. Befuddled, Elsheba shamefully covered the babe's nudity, more flummoxed by the strange anatomy than she would have been for any other child, and instead looked up as her mother finally slammed her hand to the table. "You went against our traditions? You would steal from Mother Aisha for your own selfish--"
Indignance flashed through her, and Elsheba instantly slammed her own hand against the table, only to flinch and curse under her breath as the boy-child whimpered and burst into tired sobs at the violence. "Mom, do you really think I would do it?! I found the child, out in the forest - and whatever disrespect they showed the Mother has been avenged." Inhaling deeply, Elsheba gathered her strength and stood to retrieve a strip of cloth, ignoring her mother's disapproving look as she used the precious material as a flat, washing the baby clean with the dirty nappy as best she could and replacing it with the new one. Once cleaned, she wadded the other up to be cleaned, rinsed her hands with what water she could spare from the rest of her canteen, then finally looked up at her mother, who had spent the time pacing and biting the end of her nail.
"He can't stay here - and I know Eshe won't want him." Her mother finally muttered. Elsheba frowned, scooping the child up to hold - not out of any maternal need, but because he was still shivering and whimpering from his scare, and if he cried more it would bring more interest from the triplets than she wanted at the moment. It was true- Eshe's care for the newblooms had already been stretched thin as orphaned younglings, without family to care for them nearby, were left in her care. Even with her new mystic apprentice, the strange marked one, Eshe and the mystics had their hands full and another newborn, a mixed breed at that, would only invite chaos.
And yet the discovery while changing the diaper led to another problem - a mixed child was already a challenge, but a MALE mixed child - they were already widely regarded as lesser sisters. Most half breeds had a family to scoop them up - surely the alkidike woman had SOME family! Surely!
"He must have someone - a grandmother or aunt who will watch him." Elsheba decided, nodding her head in pleasure at her idea. She could look for other homes as she searched - if the family didn't want him, then certainly SOMEONE would pity the poor thing enough to at least care for him. Sisters always looked after their sisters, and surely Aisha wouldn't bring him into the world to be passed over so easily, right?
… Apparently not. There wasn’t much to go on, besides the necklace and spear. She decided it was best not to mention the woman had undreaded her hair - so she opted for searching for missing sisters. At each household, she presented the necklace and the child, and was turned away roughly. By the close of the first day, she returned home exhausted and with a starving baby. Her mami, Senza, took pity on her and helped track down milk for him, while Levonn watched disapprovingly from across the room.
Elsheba retired to her room to sleep, intent on starting back up the next morning...but her mother was rewarding her charity in saving the boy as an insult and the moment the baby began to cry he was deposited in her lap, jarringly, with a ticked up eyebrow and chipper smile from the older Alkidike. Grumbling, and exhausted, Elsheba scooped him back up and bounced him against her shoulder.
Time passed. Before she knew it, Elsheba was forced to travel out of Andile, and to other settlements - all with no luck. Of all the alkidike who were missing from the war, no one had a family member that had eloped with an iceling - at least that they knew of, and of the dozens of households she visited no one recognized the necklace. Judging by the rocks she’d found in the iceling’s bag, it was very possible he’d made it for her himself, and that her family wouldn’t know about it anyway.
And even fewer people could even suffer the boy’s presence, nonetheless consider taking him in. Just carrying him around was enough of an insult, it seemed, and doors were slammed in her face before she could even hold up the necklace more often than she liked.
Weeks passed, then months… the boy was getting bigger, peering at her with bright gold eyes, sucking on his fingers as she padded along the path, back towards her parent’s home. Her sisters were outside, playing, and Elsheba smiled sadly and ruffled their dreads as she passed. Inside, she sat at the table and drew a hand over her face, releasing a shaky sigh as her mother, Senza, set a cup of tea infront of her, eyes soft.
“Why would Aisha bring me to him, if I can’t even find his family?” She sighed, unable to keep tears of frustration from pricking at her eyes.
“... Maybe… you were meant to be his family.” Senza suggested, softly. Elsheba snapped her head up to stare at her, gaping, then shook her head hurriedly, wincing as the baby gripped at her hair and began gumming at it. “You- you can’t be serious. I don’t want a--” She instantly choked back what she was going to say, especially at the sharp look her mother sent her.
Senza, unlike her wife, had always been soft on hybrids. But… hybrid or not, a male child? And Elsheba didn’t even WANT a bloom yet - she hadn’t asked for him, why should she be saddled with him, just because she’d been unlucky enough to find him?!
But then what was she supposed to do? Eshe couldn’t take him - no one else wanted him. She could always walk him back into the forest, and leave him where she’d found him, but the very idea made her feel sick.
She was well and truly stuck.
Looking down at him again, though… Elsheba didn’t feel anything particularly maternal towards him, but she had to admit that he wasn’t awful. If anything, caring for her sisters was harder because there were three of them, and all of them little trouble makers. “... Fine. Just … just until we find his real family.” She said, with finality.
Life in Andile is … tense, to say the least. It’s hard to conceal her ward when out in public; it’s as if Aisha designed him for the sole purpose of standing out in Alkidike society. He cries at the most inopportune times, and hates being covered in blankets when being carried outside. He always shrugs any coverings off with fat, flailing baby fists, and the bright blue of his skin is impossible to hide; Elly can’t count the times sisters have approached her, eager to see a lotus-born, only for their faces to crumple at the sight of a hybrid child.
By the time he’s a year old, all the locals know Elsheba as his mother; despite her constant reminders that she didn’t pray to Aisha for him. None of them seem to believe her, and less are inclined to hike an hour out into the forest to look at his real parents’ graves. Her behavior, they feel, is that of a foolish young Alkidike whose lover abandoned her, and left her with a hybrid b*****d to raise alone. She tries, desperately, to find a home for him; taking him with her as she travels the isles, and even the settlements on the mainland, looking for a family to take him in.
Some families seem interested; on the mainland, so close to other races, the Alkidike sisters are less vehemently against other peoples. There, the problem is less due to his lineage, and more due to the increased risk from Oba, to the south, and the spats that still spike up between some shifter neighbors. Food is harder to come by, they say, maybe when he’s older they can accept the risk. But for now, he’s safer in the west, closer to the mystics and the mother tree.
By the time he’s two years old, many of Elsheba’s oldest friends have left her behind, realizing that the boy child is a likely permanent addition to her home. They’re even less inclined to hunt with her when she asks, and more often than not when she heads out into the forest, she’s alone.
Any sort of relationship she had with her mother, Levonn, has been crushed to dust. Levonn tolerates Elsheba and Nimueh, letting them live in the family home since Elsheba still helps to raise her younger sisters, but the hybrid living under her roof has sullied her name too; and Elly’s main blessing is that her other mother, Senza, seems to like the little boy. When he begs to be held, she scoops him up and sings to him, ruffling his dreads and tolerating him as he clings to her as she works around the settlement, cooking or sewing.
With Senza seemingly content to watch Nimueh for extended periods, Elsheba falls back to hunting; being alone in the forests is a balm to her frayed nerves, and when she bags a kill and can bring it home to her family, she feels that she’s not as big of a failure as she increasingly feels, these days.
Nimueh is… an enigma, for her. As a baby it was easy to ignore him as a person; he was the little babe that slept curled against her at night, who whimpered when she turned to leave to hunt, who clung to her leg annoyingly as she tried to navigate the markets and sell skins and bones and organs from the beasts she’d hunted. He hates watching her work, skinning and butchering her kills, but seems to enjoy it when she’s working on more domestic pursuits. He likes to sit in her lap, sucking his thumb and watching with bright golden eyes as she carves bones with a knife, whittling them into needles for sewing, or tools to use around the camp.
Sometimes, when she sews, he babbles at her for ‘shinies’, and she watches, amused, as his little face crumples into concentration, fat fingers following the contours of different rocks or crystals she’s plucked from the surrounding woods. Most children would stick these in their mouths, but he seems to enjoy touching them, more than anything. One day, Elsheba finds a small treasure trove of baubles hidden under his clothes in the corner of their room.
The day that Nimueh calls her ‘mama’ is easily the most confusing day of her life. How long has she been trying to deny any connection to the boy? He’s her ward; the little brat she didn’t have the stomach to kill the day she found him, the little annoyance who hates talking to new people and shadows her incessantly. So why does her heart warm when she comes home from a hunt, and he runs out from behind Senza, arms outstretched, calling ‘up’ for her to pick him up?
Why does she feel so happy when he hugs her around the neck and cuddles up against her, for bed time?
And why, then, does she feel so furious and insulted when he’s out in the market with her and people loudly gossip about him, pointing, and his little eyes glisten with tears, clutching her leg and hiding against it?
The day the extremists march, Nimueh is five years old, sitting on the back of a caravan with a small pouch full of his favorite rocks, kicking his feet and shyly showing off his favorites to the hybrid man who has adopted him, unaware that he is being sent away from her. Unaware that soon, she’ll be going to war against her own sisters, who would sooner see him dead than give him a chance to live? He’ll be safe in Sauti, she rationalizes; she doesn’t know when Andile will be safe again. He’ll have a family of other hybrids; really, she shouldn’t have kept him this long at all; she should have thought to send him to Zena or Sauti to live with others like him, long before danger came to their doorstep.
...But. As the caravan rolls off and she waves goodbye to him, Elsheba realizes that she’s crying, and that… at five years old, that little boy has stolen her heart. He’s called her mama for years, but it’s not until she sends him away that she realizes … she wasn’t just humoring him. He was her little boy, and … as horrible as a mother as she’s been, always forcing him to hide away, not defending him as she should in front of other sisters … she loves him.
And now, it’s possible that she’ll never see him again. She’s changed her mind - she needs to run after the cart and grab her son back, tell them that SHE is his family, always has been --
But she doesn’t move. The cart leaves her line of sight, and Elsheba has no clue where it’s heading.
It’s the last time Elsheba sees him, until they meet again, nearly thirty years later.
Meeting with Nimueh again was an unexpected, but... much needed bandage on a wound long neglected. But there was still business to attend to in Belrea, business beyond just unforeseen reunions with long lost sons. Namely, finding her sister Lumikani. In truth, she'd gone the long way around to Zinris; namely, while she'd acted as an escort through Jauhar and Tale, she'd never once braved the trek into the desert. The very last thing she wanted to do was travel through such a place, even if it was, perhaps, the most direct route to the docks in Matori that would take her to Yael.
So, Belrea. Going further to Sauti was still new to her, but at least this trek had other Alkidike alongside her, namely those who were traveling to pay respects to the great tree Azehra, and the sister Vandrea who lived there. After her meeting with Nimueh, Elsheba continued along to her destination; a neighborhood that was Aishan, but still nestled within the oppressive city of Zenner, closer to the shore where they would find transport to Chiume.
Chiume itself was unique, so similar and yet so different than back home in Chibale. For one, the trees were so much different; the leaves spiny rather than broad, although the diet of nuts and fruits was similar enough. Different species, just like Alkidike and Vandrea, but still familiar, and Elsheba took some reassurance in that fact.
She spent a short time in Chiume, allowed to approach Azehra to pay her respects. Not for the first time, a wild part of her wondered what would happen if she should pray for a child - to linger here, in this familiar but different place. But her conversation with Nimueh, her vow to settle back in Jauhar, waved off the spur of the moment decision; besides, she was still having fun with Ujiri's attention, and bringing a child into it was far from ideal. No, if she was to try to have children again, she needed to wait until she'd healed her relationship with her first, failed attempt; and gotten, hopefully, into a better place.
Faced with such unwise temptation though, she cut her visit to Chiume short, returned to the mainland, then headed south, through the dense mountains and to flat, sprawling fields populated by Geians who, while more familiar with Alkidike after years of travel, still looked at her strangely as she traveled through. Talrise was her goal, and once there she saw little point in lingering.
Ship travel was... difficult, in many ways. The airship terrified her, with the constant expectation of that vertigo and tugging feeling in her stomach that told her she was falling. The ships in Talrise, however, made her sick in other ways that confined her to her cabin, curled up in a pathetic ball amongst the rough, uncomfortable blankets that made up her too short bed. The smaller canoes that her people used to traverse from the isles were preferable to this monstrosity, that gave her a sensation of constant churning.
So... yes, she spent a nice, sunny week in Matori, which... was delightful in ways she'd never expected. The Matori people were cheery enough, eager to collect what they could for her in payment for being yet another tourist on their shores, but the place was like a paradise. It was difficult to believe that these people had been enslaved, up until only a few decades ago.
But, alas... finally she had no choice but to continue her trip onwards towards Yael. She could only hope and pray that her neice was right, and that Lumikani would be willing to meet with her.
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