Closed [The Glass Beach] A Fall from Grace (Adelaide)

[Algol]

1st, Fall, 514AV

When the dark began to lift and consciousness found her, the first thing that registered was the deep, rhythmic roar of the ocean. Cold waves rolled up the shore and foam washed over her, splashing her face and chilling her skin. Her unearthly features wrinkled in displeasure, and her golden skin shivered. When the Ethaefal's eyes opened she saw brilliant color. The smooth glass under her cheek glistened in the daylight, and from her prone position belly down on the shore, it seemed like the world was made of the stuff.

She lay there in dazed confusion until the sea once again rolled up over top of her naked body. Propelled by instinct to escape the cold, she stirred on the glass, rose to all fours, and crawled higher up the beach. The colors shifted under her hands and knees, tinkling delicately. With her eyes now lifted to what lay beyond the shore, her disorientation soon overwhelmed her. Solara slowly stopped her escape from the sea and sat dripping wet on the glass. Before her was an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar landscape. The air was wet, and she could hear distance life.

One memory began to claw its way to the surface, and her disbelieving eyes turned skyward. Pink lips parted in a silent question, and tears spilled down her cheeks before the pieces of the puzzle ever formed the picture. She'd fallen away somehow, torn from what she knew, and with no idea how, and no idea where she'd washed ashore.

"Gods," she croaked in fear, instinctively returning to a language from the past that her lips could articulate. Looking at her trembling fingers, her beautiful face twisted in grotesque disgust. To most, they would appear perfect. Delicate, long, and with pale oval nails. To her, they were ugly. She had been beautiful, but no more. Now she was something hard and awkward, a pale comparison to what she had gained and somehow lost. Frantic fingers went to her soaked hair, tumbling in thick auburn coils down her back and shoulders. They went up a little higher, feeling her neck, her ears, and finally the base of her horns.

A long, high wail of despair escaped her, and though she couldn't fight through the shock to piece what had happened together, she felt a sudden loneliness as vast as the sea she'd clawed her way out of. Solara curled up on the smooth glass of the beach and keened quietly, trembling both with cold and overwhelming fear. She couldn't understand what was happening, but her very soul was torn and grieving.

[Adelaide Sitai]

It was already going to be an action-packed day. There was an open event later that day that Adelaide was bound to attend in her capacity as family caretaker and she had promised, far from against her will, to make an appearance at the Playhouse acting auditions. Why, then, she decided that to take a detour via glass beach was anyone's guess... she did not have the time for such a thing! But she had left the Bloodflower plantation truly very early that morning, while the night was drawing to the end of its rule, sleeping a bell in the carriage, and arrived in Kenash while the sky was still shadowed, the sun a single glowing white orb hanging low in a lilac blue sky. Thus, she had given herself the time for a morning walk along glass beach (something that she always invariably enjoyed) and, in that lighting, cut a strange figure with her dark hair undone and streaming down her back, at a complete contrast with her white silk dress, her silver cloak and her skin pale in the crisp morning light while she carried her shoes in her left hand. She didn't know why she had taken off her shoes for, though she usually did so at other beaches, Glass beach was hard and not particularly pleasant to walk on. Still, though, she walked, her feet slipping over the smooth, hard pebbles.

Looking out to sea, she was struck by how different yet how eternal the sight looked every day, every hour, every season. Now, the horizon faded into the wild sea and the milky sky and, if perhaps it was not a storybook picture, there was a bleak beauty revelling in the rawness of the elements that she found breath-taking.

With a smile, she started to form words in her mind, thinking aloud, "A stretch of sky perhaps? A blanket of blue? A cloak of silken sky? Or periwinkle blue..." she paused, trying to think exactly how she should start her little ditty then smiled, "A curtain of sky, the shade of a faded, ashen cornflower."

It was not good but the young woman did not care. Nobody but herself would ever hear it, and even she'd forget it before long.

"And the sea? Is it simple or is it infinitely complex in its majesty? Is it constant in its eternity or inconstant because its unpredictable? Both I should imagine - a swathe of sea, vicious and cold, inconstant and dour."

The young woman had not stopped walking, even as the wind blew her dress back against her so that it flapped noisily, like the sail of a boat. A seagull above whooped, far from the song of the more earthly-bound birds who, evidently, sang for their soul. Finally, in a breath, Adelaide turned away and outstretched her hands to the horizon, like a beggar, and put her little rhyme together.

"A curtain of sky, the shade of a faded, ashen cornflower
A swathe of sea, vicious and cold, inconstant and dour.
All washing over a beach made of sea-weathered glass
That collapses on itself, the saltwater tide coming in fast."

It was then that the Sitai noticed what seemed to be a person further along the shoreline. The littoral was often scattered with all manner of things that had washed up and, as the name of the beach indicated, splintered with glass wares falling from the back of wind eagles. A person, however, was not usual. With a start, the young woman started running forward towards the small figure, wondering what could possibly have happened. Immediately, she assumed that it was a shipwrecked Svefra for, though she had never seen such a thing herself, she had heard of fortunate sailors (seemingly favoured by some god) being washed up on a beach. Of course, "fortunate" was assuming that the person was still alive.

"Hello?" the young woman called, "Hold on. I'm coming to help you!"

She hurried further forward at a brisk walk, remembering that a Dynast should probably not run for a simple sailor. It was then that she saw something glimmering, the sun reflecting off something and sending a ray of golden light glittering like a star. Horns. With a start, Adelaide stopped in her tracks and felt a lump swell slightly in her throat. An Ethaefal, a woman with locks of auburn hair, the hair framed by those glittering gold horns. An Ethaefal by the light of Syna. With curiosity, Adelaide went further forward, her discovery rendering her like a child who had just discovered a treasure, the greatest of treasures. It was then that she heard a wail escape the lips of the humanoid and Adelaide felt herself struck to the core. In that wail she heard a symphony, nails scratching across the ice, the high moan of a student's violin and a swansong, the cry of a new-born babe and the last sigh of a dying man. As it faded away, so did much of Adelaide's discomfort and she finally pressed forward.

Slowly, uncertainly, she held out a hand to the creature. When she finally spoke, her voice was gentle, soft and lilting, inviting confidence.

"Don't be afraid. I'm a friend."

[Algol]

She heard the crunching of feat on the beautiful glass peddles, and the soft voice beckoning her. Salty tears mingled with the seawater glistening on her skin like gems, and she tried to block out that voice. But the footsteps grew closer until they finally stopped, and the Ethaefal couldn't help but peek at the bare feet by her head. Horns scraped and clacked against the glass beneath her as she shifted. Curiously but reluctantly, she made herself sit. The fear and uncertainty carved onto her face couldn't be denied, and her lips trembled with the welling of more tears.

The woman before her seemed the definition of a kind, worried soul. Her brows were knitted above big brown eyes that seemed a myriad of other colors at the same time, and her lips were turned up in a worried smile. She was dressed beautifully despite the bare feet, and though the newborn Ethaefal couldn't comprehend that the human seemed a level-headed and well-off young woman, she was automatically drawn to the sense of security that rolled off of her likes the waves of the Suvan on the glass shore.

She looked at the outstretched fingers offered to her. Her gaze was intent, and hesitantly she procured her own.

"Friend," she repeated hoarsely, blinking rapidly and frowning at the unpleasant effect her sore throat had on her voice.

"Whe--," the Ethaefal tried to ask, but paused and strumbled over the words then tried again. "Where am I?" she breathed, staring up into the stranger's face with eyes gleaming likes sapphires.

As she was helped to her feet, she unconsciously placed another hand on the woman's arm. Her legs trembled but held and she swayed for a moment as it all came back to her. The Ethaefal looked down at her toes and wiggled them on the smooth glass, then turned her intent gaze back to the woman in front of her. Where the Dynast was dressed to impress, she was as naked as a newborn--which she also was, in a sense. Her bare skin seemed to soak in and faintly reflect the light of the sun carving her descent in the sky, making the newborn almost glow warmly from the inside.

"What has happened?" she asked in a hushed voice, seeming afraid to speak too loudly.

[Orin Fenix]

Grades are Served

 

Algol

Algol if you ever return to Mizahar PM me and I will happily award you your grades.

 

Adelaide Sitai

]

Skill	XP
Planning	1
Observation	1
Rhetoric	1
Poetry	1
Composition	1
Socialization	1
Persuasion	1

Lores

• Poem Written About Sea and Sky
• The Ethaefal on the Beach
• Ethaefal: Touched by Syna
• Helping Those in Need

Extras :

Gave you what I could! As always a lovely read and I am in awe of your skills with poetry. Although I'm not sure I trust Adelaide with a Ethaefal!

Don't forget to edit or delete your grade request in the grade request thread.

If you have any questions or concerns about your grade please feel free to send me a message.