Weavings of Destiny (Kiska pls)

[Alice]

Timestamp: to be determined by Kiska

On the White Isle, the days flew by. The blinding white of the trees faded into a somewhat muted grey and their leaves underwent a transformation from fresh and fragrant life to dead dryness. Animals were still out and about, mostly forest cats with fluffy furs and white deer. Sea creatures could be seen underwater, white and pale blue fish and sea horses and the occasional eel and sea serpent. The water temperature would remain more or less around the current degrees, but the air got colder.

Kiska, a young Benshira woman, had come to Mura in search of her fate. However, she hadn’t found anything useful so far. Not even the Medical Library could help her, as she didn’t possess the ability to read what was written in its books. Herbalism and medicine classes took up a good part of her daily life which was some kind of progress too.

Daily classes, projects and meetings with her newfound acquaintances often left her tired and exhausted in the evenings. Those days were usually followed by nights filled with deep, dreamless sleep. She awoke refreshed and ready for the next day, although she couldn’t deny the feeling of something missing. Didn’t she want to find something else here? As the days went by, her focus slowly, but surely dissolved. Konti Isle was beautiful, and its people were so inviting and helpful that it almost hurt. Of course, there were those moments when even a Konti failed at concealing the inner dichotomy that came with the burden of sight. Sometimes they lowered their heads, white hair covering their faces, apologized and said: “Just a moment. Don’t worry, I’m all right.”

The longer she stayed, the more Kiska learned about the true nature of the Konti. However, she had to learn through observation and careful interrogation, because the women did never give away information about their race easily. They were secretive and protective of their little paradise. Nevertheless, perhaps Kiska could learn something from their lives as well?

Another day of studying had passed. The weather was cool; Syna’s eye covered by a white blanket that seemed to stick to the sky these days. The city and lake seemed to be wrapped in a thin layer of mist. The Benshira had gone to bed early.

This time, however, some unknown God or Goddess did send a dream her way. Perhaps it was because she had gotten used to the work, both physically and mentally, and was kind of finding her balance in the eye of the storm. Perhaps it was just the right time for a dream. Perhaps the consumption of vision water had eventually taken its toll on the human girl and started showing visible effects.

Whatever it was, it caused a dream scene to be hurled towards Kiska – and suddenly she was in the middle of the story. It was all blurred and foggy, but the emotions and impressions were crystal-clear. Typical dream features. She was going for a stroll outside, on a beautiful meadow with flowers in bright pastel colors and pleasant smells and butterflies. While she walked, another person seemed to join her, although he or she didn’t have a physical body such as Kiska. The presence merely accompanied her, and somehow Kiska knew it was there, but it radiated serenity.

After some time had passed, the presence asked Kiska of something. The question wasn’t conveyed through words; instead it was a pure emotion, an impulse in its most original form. It asked of Kiska’s goals in life, of her ambitions and dreams. It asked if her current life really was everything Kiska wanted to experience. It asked for so many different things, but at the same time it was very precise in its request.

Future.

[Kiska]

Her senses were hazy, yet somehow vivid at the same time, in the same sense as the one who walked beside her. She felt as if she walked amongst a fog so thick that even the one beside her remained concealed, yet her surroundings were clear enough to her. Her steps led her seemingly endlessly through a field full of flowers, the like Kiska had never seen before. No words were spoken, save for hers. She felt oddly calm, walking with the presence beside her of what she knew not. She felt the question flow through her veins, as if it had been asked from within her. She heard no sounds, no spoken question, but knew that one had been asked of her. It was a calm, lucid state that she was in now, one that would let her tell no lies even if she were one to do so. "The sands are shifting, they always do. I will not be destroyed by this one that was spoken to me, but it is much more than that now. Mura is a strange and beautiful place, I've found myself lost within the folds of its skirts. They can teach me many wonderful things there..." she trailed off, knowing she had said nothing of a future. "How long can I stay in Mura, it is such a small paradise. How long would I partake of luxury, when others in distant lands lay ill and dying, when I can do something about it, even if it may be only to give them some tea and bandages. I sit idly, eating gourmet food, while I know there are those that starve, when I could feed them." It was something she had grown to feel strongly for as her life went on, from the time she had found her youngest brother dead, and herself helpless to do anything, when her mother had been very ill and she could only watch, and when she was found captured and enslaved. She would no longer be helpless. "I want to make a difference, and I'm going to. One way or another," she said to the presence, determinedly. "I've agreed to help someone, a while ago. She agreed to help me as well, but we've fallen to habit, and lost sight of our goals, for the time being. She seeks to re-unite her two peoples, I will accompany her on her journeys, as agreed. On our travels, I will do what I can for the people we cross, the places we visit. I've learned a bit about making remedies and potions for cures, I've some training in medicine to work with. People don't have to die or be sick, and those like me won't have to go through with seeing their families sick or dead." She bowed her head as she walked, thoughtful. "I will do my best," she said, and fell to silence, as if waiting for an answer in return. She knew she would hear no words spoken though, as the question had been. She knew it was likely that this presence would continue to speak to her through raw emotion.

[Alice]

Moderator Plot Notes

When Kiska spoke of the prophecy she had once listened to, the presence seemed to flicker. Excitement thickened the air for a moment and a hint of hidden knowledge. Then it was gone, though, and Kiska couldn’t be sure whether it had been reality or one of her own wishes. When one moment was reality, the previous one often blurred and vanished already.

Serenity returned. Although Kiska merely wrapped her dreams into words, as soon as she had spoken them, they came alive and danced in vivid images in front of her eyes. They shone through the meadow like memories of a distant past suddenly came alive, stimulated by a single event or something another person mentioned. Out there battlefields existed, narrow alleys where cobblestone was stained with blood and people so thin that their skin appeared to be stretched over their bones. Large eyes looked at Kiska, begging for help, asking for whatever she could give them. They were products of her own imagination, naturally – but didn’t imagination become real as soon as one connected it with reality? Words spoken with passion possessed that effect.

Then Ero and Kiska herself appeared. They were traveling an unfamiliar road side by side, but there was an invisible barrier of distance between them. Did one truly understand what the other one wanted? Was their contract the truth or just a product of their imagination? Mindsets were unique, and so were people. They thought they were on the same page, at least.

A possibility appeared for a split second. Perhaps the presence had caused it to become visible to the Benshira, she couldn’t be sure. It contained Ero, but then it was gone and lost to oblivion. Kiska might not even remember it when waking.

When she concluded her speech, the presence acknowledged her devotion. Through a momentary vibration Kiska might recognize a concentration of focus, a sign that those last words had impressed her faceless companion. Yes, devotion was one of the most important values in a world like Mizahar. Without a vision, without the will to cling to whatever they were doing, people were often lost out in the dangers of the young world.

Kiska would later remember that the presence and she had continued their walk for a while longer. More emotions had been shared, through words as well as in their original form. Even when Kiska didn’t speak, the presence seemed to know things about her. Of course, in a dream everything was possible.

When Kiska slowly rose from the depths of the dream realm, the subliminal area between Mizahar and the Ukalas, everything was as always. The memory of the dream still lingered in her mind, though, but if she didn’t further think about it, it would soon disappear into the cool air. Another day had begun, another day of whatever she had planned. A single thing had changed, though, and she would recognize it when looking into the mirror, in a shop window or in the calm surface of the various ponds all across Mura. A shimmering sigil had appeared in the middle of her forehead, a little above her eyebrows.

[Kiska]

89th Day of Fall of the year 510 AV

Kiska opened her eyes to the small room she slept in at the Opal Temple. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up, immediately taking her journal and the quill from her bedside table. She dipped the quill in her ink vial and began writing. Day 89 of the season of Fall of the year 510 AV, from the hand of Kiska It is a strange occurrence, ones dreams. Sometimes it is hard to tell, whether one is real or one is not. I haved dreamed, this past night, but am fairly sure that it was not at all a dream, but a meeting. I was walking through a field of flowers, seemingly alone. But I was not alone. There was...someone beside me, but I know not who. It was a presence, more than a person, and they asked me but one thing really... what is my future? I suppose I knew not what that was until this dream, but I will follow what I have said in my dream. I have...a calling, I believe. Kiska. Kiska closed her journal and placed it in her pack that had been sitting by the small bed. She placed the things she would need for today in her pack, including her healer's kit, philtering kit, a sack of some vials and bottles, beltpouch full of herbs, portable firepit, and other such stuff that she may need for her studies. Kiska slipped on her casual maroon dress and leather sandals. She lifted the pack and slung it over her shoulder before walking out the door and into the halls of the south tower of the Opal Temple. Kiska hadn't noticed the sigil that now marked her face, as she possessed no mirrors, and hadn't thought to check. In the mornings, Kiska usually liked to take walks, around the temple and Silver Lake, or study quietly in the library. Sometimes she would visit her herbalism teacher, Drae, or her friend Ero. This morning, her feet led her to the beaches around the white Isle, in particular, near the harbor, where she would walk along on her morning walk and going over various bits of information and memory in her mind.

[Alice]

Kiska wasn’t aware that the calling, as she called it in her journal, was something commonly experienced and highly valued in Konti society. All of the scaled women experienced it at some point in their lives, and that always was the turning point of everything. Had they lingered between various different crafts and professions, trying out many different things and gathering a wide variety of knowledge, the ‘Call’ made them settle and practice what they were destined to do. It was simple; another gift that showed how much Avalis loved her children.

The Benshira girl was no child of the Seer Goddess, naturally, but anticipation of the future, strong wishes and plans and a bit of luck was tightly woven into her thread of fate, all of which belonging to Avalis’ domain. Perhaps the Goddess did keep an eye on her, after all? Around Mura, all over the White Isle, she seemed to be omnipresent, at least.

That particular morning was filled with Fall’s chill and milky white mist covering the isle in an atmosphere of wetness and silence. Footsteps sounded muffled and voices seemed to appear from out of nowhere. One could barely see fifteen feet, although it was likely that the worst would clear up by midday. White Isle Harbor already was busy, and loud noises floated over to where Kiska was walking.

Regardless of what her usual route was, that day Kiska found herself drawn farther and farther away from Mura and the harbor. She felt that something would happen or had already happened out there that might be of interest to her personally. The question where that idea came from didn’t even cross her mind. It was as if she suddenly felt that her presence was required … where she was heading at.

After what had to be a bell of walking, Kiska spotted something lying on the beach. First it looked like a piece of cargo, half-buried in the sand and touched by the water every now and then. Upon coming closer, however, she would realize that it was indeed a living being, with her white dress moving with the tides.

A Konti woman, breathing, but unconscious. Reddened cheeks, maybe from exhaustion or fever. A dress, its fabric too thin to actually protect from the chill and the water. And a basket, filled with a dozen leaves and flower blossoms, near her.

[Kiska]

Kiska walked intently toward wherever it was she was headed. She knew not why she went in her direction, only that she had to. She had been walking for quite some time before she could see what appeared to be cargo or some other object that had washed up onto the beach. It was partially buried in the sand. Waves would creep up every so often to lick at the object. As Kiska neared the object, she realized with a shock that it was a person, not an object. With wide eyes Kiska rushed over to the fallen person and knelt beside her. She was unconscious, her thin white dress swaying as the waves rushed up the shore. What appeared to be a basket of flowers lay near the woman, but Kiska was unconcerned with this fact. The woman felt warm to the touch, despite the chilly waters. Her cheeks were red, and she was covered in sand. Kiska let out a sigh of relief, at least the warmth meant that the woman wasn't dead, though Kiska checked her pulse just to be sure. She felt a pulse, as she was sure she would, and began to drag the woman back away from the water, careful not to hurt her more. Kiska knew one could not stay like that for very long, especially this close to winter. She briefly looked around for any danger that may have left the woman like this, then set her pack down beside her. She pulled out her cloak and laid it over the woman. She laid out her healers kit, then began to check her for external injuries, cuts, bruises, or the like. "Can you hear me?" She asked the woman, unsure that she was conscious or able to answer. "I'm here to help you, can you hear me?"

[Alice]

It wasn’t that cold, actually, but the close proximity to the water and the cold rising from the earth and the sand could have a negative effect on a person’s health after all. Even a Konti, a being who had grown up in and around sweet and salt water, gathering shells, cultivating algae and other underwater plants, watching sea horses and fish, wasn’t immune to that sort of weather. Their bodies were not made to resist certain conditions, similar to humans. When Kiska checked for the pulse, she felt the rushing of blood through veins, as weak and slow as it was.

Upon closer inspection, Kiska would recognize tiny cuts on the Konti’s webbed hands. Apparently she had gone to greater lengths than the ordinary gardener or flower lover would go to get some fresh blossoms to assemble around their home. Also, the leaves didn’t really look pretty enough to justify why she had harvested them in the first place. Unless, of course … But Kiska focused on the woman’s body first. Fitting the season, the dress featured long sleeves, but some color shone through on both of the Konti’s forearms. Could that simply be her scales reflecting the light? No, dark red scales were not a common feature. If Kiska decided to remove the fabric, she would detect a series of open cuts and punctual wounds. Just from looking at it, the woman might have been attacked by a sea predator, although it should be beyond Kiska’s imagination which animal and why. Konti, living in tune with nature, never provoked the rage of Caiyha’s creatures. They rarely hunted, bred fish with care and always thanked nature for Her products.

So why? Apparently there was no other way than asking the person in question directly.

When an unfamiliar and entirely un-Kontiesque voice spoke, her eyelids fluttered. Very slowly, they opened and light turquoise eyes looked at Kiska. It wasn’t sure whether the woman even perceived her clearly, but her lips performed a slight movement. She tried to form words, although her face was bright red and hot to the touch. Perhaps she had slipped into unconsciousness because of the fever. After licking her lips with her tongue, the Konti whispered a few words Kiska could barely understand. “Not … Have always … will do it … my own.” She tried to move, to regain control over her limbs. However, she almost immediately tumbled and fell over, too weak to fight against the feeling of dizziness that was obviously building up in her head. During the process, the coat slipped off her fragile body.

Although she was very weak with the wounds and fever, she was determined to fend off Kiska’s helpfulness. Whenever the Benshira girl tried to treat her wounds or comfort her in any other way, she would try to slip away or stop the tanned hands, making her own condition even worse.

That was probably the most reckless Konti Kiska had ever seen and would ever see. A race of healers, self-confident women and faithful seers and priestesses of a loving Goddess – and still, exemplars who simply didn’t know what that meant existed. Kiska had obviously just met one of those. Now what to do to get the Konti to agree with her help?