Completed Stricken

[Ari'Ellin]

80th Fall, 520AV

It was early afternoon and Ari’Ellin hadn’t done much with her day. She’d been to the Healing Hands to see what needed doing, and had been sent home for the day whilst she waited for various herbs to finish macerating and infusing.

Now she was bored and unsure of how to kill her time. Sighing, she shrugged, opting to follow the Lhavitian traditions of sleeping at times that would be considered unusual back in her home city of Mura. Sighing, she trudged her way to her bed, flopping face down on it and closing her eyes, just in time to here a knock on the door to her small home.

Frowning, she blinked for a few moments, hearing the knock again before she forced herself back up from the bed and walked over to the front door, opening it to see a girl, seemingly human and possibly fourteen years of age. She was slightly taller than Ari herself, and her dark brown hair hung messily around herself as she held out a folded piece of paper.

“I didn’t realise this was the house I needed. Four other house kept pointing me this direction but I couldn’t work out exactly which one they were pointing at. Here though, from Mura.” she rambled off and Ari stared blankly at the girl as she tried to process what she was saying, until she heard the word Mura and a smile spread across her face as she took the paper, nodding appreciatively at the girl.

“Thank you.” she said , bowing her head again as she looked down at the piece of paper, about to open it before she heard the dark haired girl speak again.

“Most people would show their appreciation with a donation?” she said, her voice clearly disgruntled at the lack of money voluntarily given.

Ari’Ellin frowned slightly, glancing around her home and spotting a copper miza as she nodded, walking over to pick it up, handing it to the dark haired girl and shutting the door as the girl started walking away, grumbling to herself in a voice that was too quiet for Ari’Ellin to really understand.

Shaking her head, Ari smiled to herself as she fingered over the folded paper, hoping that it was a message from her mother. It wasn’t often that they could communicate, with letters taking a long time to be sent between them and it being so difficult to find a courier heading in the right directions.

Grinning excitedly, Ari moved to sit crosslegged on her bed as she unfolded the piece of paper, frowning as she saw a single line in unfamiliar handwriting. Her eyes scanned over the messy Kontinese scrawlings and at the last word she felt her breath catch in her throat as a lump formed, an unfamiliar feeling growing in the pit of her stomach and pains coursing through her chest as she attempted to avoid succumbing to the urge to vomit out everything that she had eaten that day.

She’d never expected four simple words to cause such a reaction from her but now she felt as though she couldn’t move and she remained trapped where she was, something stopping her physical body from jumping up and running far far away from everything and everyone like her mind was trying to tell her to. Instead she was stuck reading the same four words over and over again.

Word Count566 words

[Ari'Ellin]

‘Your mother is dead’

Those four words were all that it took to tear apart her life. It had been a bell since she’d opened and read the ‘letter’ and she was still sat on her bed, just trying to comprehend what it had said and what that truly meant.

Finally able to move, she swung her shaking legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, her legs buckling slightly as she almost fell before she stumbled around her room, grabbing her cloth and spreading it out on the floor. She found her rune stones next to her bed and lacking a container for them, she grabbed her boot, putting the stones into her boot and shaking them as she sat cross legged on the cloth.

Finally she closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on her mother before tipped the rune stones from her boot onto the cloth, allowing them to spill out in a random order as she shook the boot slightly until there were no more stones left in the boot.

Opening her eyes she scanned over the stones, picking out the first three runes that she noticed to be face up, placing them in a horizontal line and being sure not to change the direction they faced.

Frowning she glanced over them, picking up the first stone that would be something relating to the past. She frowned more as she thought about the stones, remembering back to her mothers words, the advice and help she’d given her when she was learning how to cast and read the stones.

‘The negatives of human needs.’

The voice echoed throughout her mind as she felt her cheeks growing slightly damp as she thought of the stones meaning. Human needs, things like food, water, sleep, love, companionship...

A sense of guilt flooded Ari as her cheeks grew wetter and wetter from the tears that flowed from her eyes. Not only had her father vanished and left them, breaking her mothers heart in the process, but Ari had also fled Mura and travelled somewhere far from her mother. Had the sense of abandonment been what had lead to this situation?

Shaking her head, trying to shoo away the tears she looked at the next stone, her mothers voice echoing around her head yet again.

‘The nature of humanity’.

“Shyking joke of a present... Personal reflection.” Ari muttered under her breath ash’s looked the last stone, the one that would represent the future. “The Sacred Horse...” she mumbled to herself again. It stood for balance, stability, and treading carefully.

To her, the stones were telling her nothing, and hurriedly she stood up, yanking the cloth from under the stones, letting them scatter across the floor, a look of rage on her face before her anger dissipating and she hurriedly rushed to pick them all up, holding them close to her chest as she sat, leaning against the wall and refusing to put the stones down, desperately trying to think more on the stones she’d drawn and what they could mean together!

Word Count511 Words

[Ari'Ellin]

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, and she wasn’t sure exactly when but at some point she had made her way to her bed and lay on top of it, still clutching the rune stones to her chest, every bone in her body aching with guilt and regret as she prayed that everything had been a dream that she would awaken from soon, though every moment that passed was making it seem less and less likely that that would happen.

Her mood kept changing, from emptiness to sadness to an anger so strong and overpowering that she wanted to destroy everything and everyone around her, but even that wouldn’t distract her from everything that had happened. Letting her anger take over wouldn’t do any good, and it wouldn’t even give her a respite from her emotions.

Sighing, she managed to motivate herself to move from her position, sitting up before standing up from the bed in order to go and put her rune stones away. She’d barely placed them on the table when something tapped against the outside of her door, something nowhere near as loud as the courier that had brought her the news, but it sounded as though something was definitely there.

Cautiously she moved closer to the door, not wanting to have to deal with anything or anyone but knowing that she couldn’t be rude, and that if anything tapped or knocked again she would have to open the door and speak with whoever was there

She stood silently for a few ticks before a singular tap emanated from the door again and hurriedly Ari went to open it, while she forced a fake smile onto her face. She swung the door open to see nothing their other than the rapidly growing shade and darkness as the sun set below the horizon, taking the day into the night.

A shiver ran down her spine as she closed the door, moving to sit with her back against the door as she tried to make sense of what she was supposed to do now. Half of her wanted to return to Mura to find out exactly what had happened, how her mother had died, and whether there was anything she could have done to prevent her mothers death. She didn’t even know whether her mother had anything that she needed to sort out, or whether one of her friends would deal with the business she had left behind.

The other half of her saw no point in leaving Lhavit. She had her own life here and was enjoying the process of growing, along with all the people she’d met and the friendships she had forged. That half of her saw no point in ever going back to Mura now, especially now that there was nothing there for her.

Shaking her head, she drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face into them, breathing shakily as she tried to make a decision on what she should do.

Word Count502 Words

[Ari'Ellin]

It wasn’t long before the sun had completely set, disappearing below the horizon and plunging her room into darkness. Normally she loved the nighttime, enjoying have Lhavit never seemed to sleep and how everyone celebrated all times of the day but now something about the dark seemed twisted, unwelcoming, and unfriendly as she sat alone on the floor, her back pressed against the door.

Eventually she raised her head from her knees, letting it hang back against the door, her eyes still closed as she struggled to gather the energy and motivation to open them. It took a number of ticks of silence until she managed to open them, the ceiling cloaked in shadows but still slightly visible as she stared at it. It was hard to see any details in the darkness, the only light in her small home being that which came through her window from the moon and stars.

Still she looked over the ceiling, observing it and paying attention to all of its visible details, each knot in the wood beak, each darker line that curved around those knots in the wood. Even paying such deep attention to the wood beams that made up her ceiling, it wasn’t long until she’d looked over all of them and what she could see from the little amount of light that was barely illuminating her room, and now she was no longer able to distract herself with the beams.

Her head jerked to looked directly ahead of her instead, desperately seeking something else that she could stare at to take her mind away from everything, even if just for a few brief moments. Even a matter of ticks without thoughts of her mother and what had happened would be a welcome respite.

Ari’Ellin squinted as she stared directly ahead of her, waiting for her eyes to adjust slightly so that she could start to make out what she could see. As everything started to come into focus, Ari inhaled sharply, quickly getting to her feet as she stared at the area still, certain that she’d seen something there. She was certain thst she’d seen a somewhat humanoid figure in the darkness, though now there seemed to be nothing there.

She braced herself, hands pressed against the door behind her as she steadied herself. Her eyes scanned over the room again, looking for anything else that seemed out of place, but everything seemed to be normal, exactly how it should have been.

Still she kept scanning over the room, turning her head to look at the right side of the room, almost instantly certain she’d seen a shadow out of the left corner of her eyes. Quickly she looked towards it, yet again seeing that nothing was there, and that there were no apparent signs of anything having been there at all.

“Is anyone there?” she asked in Kontinese, before realising how unlikely it was for any sentient beings there to understand her native language. Exhaling and preparing herself, she switched to the common tongue. “Is person there?” she asked again, waiting to see if there was anything there or whether her mind was playing tricks on her.

Word Count528 Words

[Ari'Ellin]

She waited silently for signs of a response, a few ticks passing in silence before she exhaled and felt her thoughts and her brief moment of panic subsiding. She shook her head at herself before she heard something hitting the door again and a yelp escaped from her as she jumped away from the door, turning to look at it, not having expected another noise.

“Who it?” she called back, her voice shaking as she did so before something hit the door again. She swallowed, feeling a lump in her throat as she stepped closer to the door again, her hand finding the door handle, ready to swing it open as soon as she gained the courage and confidence to do so. She focused on her breathing and not the roaring in her ears as she prepared herself and a scratching came from the bottom of the door, echoing throughout her small home.

Panicking, Ari’Ellin let go of the door handle and took a few step backs, her breathing even more uneven and shakier than it had been earlier in the day. She kept her eyes on the door, again almost catching what looked like a shadowy figure from the corner of her eye.

“It’s not real...” Ari murmured to herself. “You’re just upset...” she said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. She closed her eyes, repeating the words a few more times and the scratching continued against the door.

It took a few chimes for her to work up the courage to go open the door, her hand lingering on the door handle for around thirty ticks before she threw the door open more aggressively than she’d intended to

At first she saw nothing, though as she looked down she could see the shape of a stray cat running away through her garden. The cat stopped briefly to look back at her, hissing slightly before disappearing from her sight and Ari shook her head at herself, disappointed in how scared she’d been of a stray cat.

“I need a pet...” she mumbled, moving to sit on the floor in the entrance of her house, her feet resting in her garden as she looked up at the sky, enjoying the stars and the moonlight.

It was then that she decided what she was going to do. She was going to buy a pet cat to keep her company at night, and she was going to send a letter back to Mura, demanding that some of her mothers remains be sent to her so she could always keep her close.

She decided that in the morning, once dawn had broken, she would write her letter and find a courier willing to take her letter back to Mura.

Nodding to herself, uncertain but somewhat happy with her decision, Ari made her way back into her home, finding her money and putting her shoes on before she started to make her way through Lhavit, not wanting to spend too much more time alone.

Word Count503 Words

[Oralie]

grade award!

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Ari'Ellin

Skills

• Observation: 2
• Fortune Telling: 1
• Planning: 1

Lores

• Lore of the pain of grief
• Fortune Telling: Frustration at unclear rune readings
• Lore of working through fear

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Please PM me if you have any questions or concerns and don't forget to edit your grade request!