Closed [Elin] The Voice of Love

[Vaerin]

40th of Summer,
517 AV

The day felt like it would be just about as regular as any typical day in Alvadas could be. Which was to say, far outside the regular for any other city in Mizahar. Every day walking out the front door was proving to be like walking into a fever dream of the most insane artist for Dra-Vaerin. Which in practice was just as inconvenient as it sounded. However, it did not bother him half as much as he expected it to. Where Syliras had felt thoroughly restrictive to him; Alvadas felt considerably freer. The lack of such an openly identifiable source of justice reminded Vaerin of Kalinor and its methods of justice. The way in which this city resonated much more with him than Syliras did. Maybe because the arts here were a forefront of the culture - even more so than they had been in Kalinor. As such, Vaerin felt what could perhaps be described as excitement. It was much more tempered and discrete in the way it reflected in his attitude than when he first had the ideation to leave the separated world of Kalinor and walk amongst the land dweller.

But even he could not deny its stirrings. He had even managed to reach a place in his mind where he didn't feel the need to be as hard on himself for running late to work. Mostly due to the fact that time held such a fluid concept here, trying to stick to any schedule was a futile task. Once again, such was the life of one living in the illusionary city. Today he decided he would meander through the city streets until the twilight began to fall and he would be expected to make an appearance at the bath house for his shift. Though, he would also have to remember that the streets may not play nice with him. So that would naturally play a part in his planning.

The weather was still quite hot, but not completely unbearable. It did mean that Dra-Vaerin still avoided wearing his typical underbindings to allow his skin to cool down. However, the city seemed to be quite taken with the beauty of beautiful and elegant gardens. Which in some cases meant people had to sleep in the streets! Thankfully, Vaerin's accommodation had not been in one of the housing districts to be claimed by the green. It was really quite a pleasant setting to walk amongst. So he continued on his merry way, not really focusing on any one thing until he felt a wet sloshing sensation in his sandals. He looked down to see several large puddles bubbling up from underneath the very ground. Something about this did not bode well for him and he quickly sped off, a turret of water blasting upwards a moment after his feet had left the place he had been a moment ago. However, the poor boy was unable to avoid the splash zone and ended up completely drenched. A sigh of resignation left his mouth, as he supposed these things happened. However, being clad in primarily light coloured clothing that was wet made him feel fairly self-conscious about his appearance. Well, more so than usually would have been expected from him. Dra-Vaerin may have been in a happier place at the moment, but it never fully stopped him from being able to drown out the darker thoughts he had about himself.

Though, just before he was about to turn around and try and find his way home, he saw a crowd of people forming around a well in the distance. He could hear a certain level of excitement emanating from the crowd, though due to the distance he could not tell what was being talked about. Rather than miss out on a possibly very exciting public event because he was drenched, he decided to continue towards it. A hedge that was in the shape of a waist high horse with two roses for eyes decided at that moment to hamper his movement. No illusion would make him miss this increasingly growing event though! He was after all quite a decent acrobat and this hedge was hardly imposing. Vaerin took a couple of steps back and ran at the hedge as fast as he could before leaping into the air as high as he could, forcing the momentum of his upper body forward. He tucked his legs up under his body and wrapped his arms loosely around them as his ascent over the bush began. At the height of his jump, he began to extend his legs out, getting ready to brace himself for his landing. However, due to his lack of rigorous training recently, his landing was a little shakier than he was used to. As such he had to readjust his balance quickly by thrashing his arms out in front of him quickly and duck into a squat. The tremors of his landing pulsed through the entirety of the man's small frame for a tick or two before he could bring himself up to a standing position. Surely being soaking wet had not helped his center of gravity in this act much either. You will have to train more if you are going to insist on drawing attention to yourself and show off like that...embarrassing.

He quickly glanced around him, trying to see if anyone saw his messy stunt. If anyone did, he was not aware of their presence. So he hurried on to the crowd. He inserted himself into it without too much difficulty and found a place behind a black haired woman. Through the hubbub, he could still not make out a reason for this gathering. So he thought he may as well ask. Extending a lengthy finger, he gently tapped on the black haired woman's shoulder as lightly as possible before speaking to grab her attention.

"Paron me for the intrusion, but could you please explain to me what this gathering is for?"

[Elin]

"Common" | "Kontinese" | "Tukant"

Elin still hadn't fully adjusted to the city of Alvadas, finding the illusions and the shifting streets to not seem to agree with her, often leading her on wild goose chases, though it was fun to say the least.
She'd found a few shops and fun people through the streets leading her astray, but she'd never yet made it to where she was aiming for. Maybe she should have visited Ionu's temple a few more times to try and gain the gods favour and the cities friendship. Then maybe she'd eventually get to her destinations rather than ending up back at the Inn without fulfilling the tasks she'd set herself.

Today Ilia and Rion were with friends in the inn, and so far it had been a fairly normal day compared to what she'd experienced so far. Hot yet pleasant in weather, though the streets had sent her on a merry journey as usual. This one from the Inn where she was staying and past a few oddly shaped houses, one of which seemed to look as similar to a ship as a house could while another seemed to be made in the image of a very rectangular face, and hedges that seemed to move and change their shape as she walked past them, one even taking the form of a waving man, and Elin couldn't help but smile and wave back to the illusion.
She was in a friendly mood, wanting to be out and about, and she had no need to go anywhere in particular, so today she didn't mind getting lost today, as long as she had the key to her room and could get home.

Smiling she continued down the street, occasionally stopping to close her eyes and think of something fun. She wanted fun, and maybe the city would know what she was thinking and send her towards something fun.
She turned corner after corner feeling as though she was getting more and more lost, before she saw a series of fun looking shops, though all of them seemed dark and closed, maybe as though the owners were out or that they weren't really shops and just illusions instead.

It wasn't long before she found herself looking at a crowd and apprehension came over her from memories of the riots back in Syliras and how dangerous that had been.
But this crowd didn't seem anywhere near as dangerous or violent, in fact they seemed to all be waiting for something and Elin was intrigued.
Cautiously she made her way nearer to the crowd and weaved her way in between people until she couldn't get any closer to the front, and then she began to hear hushed whispers and rumours from others within the crowd.
"I hear she did it to feel young again..."
"She deserves whatever she gets."
"Vile cow!"

The whispers intrigued Elin more, realising that this was maybe a trial or even a punish or execution, though she wasn't entirely sure, so she listened more, turning her head towards the direction each of the whispers came from.
"How many did she kill?"
"Five, she killed all of them!"

Now Elin could tell that this was a murder and she felt herself growing pale. Somebody had killed five people, and was now on trial for their crime.

"'Scuse me, but who did she kill?" she asked a stranger in front of her and as soon as she heard the answer she felt both a grave fear and a seething rage beginning to burn in her stomach.
"Her kids, all five of them." The stranger answered and Elin nodded, trying to hide the emotions she was feeling before she backed away towards the back of the crowd, but nothing would have her leave now.
If the rumours were true, she wanted to see this woman suffer for making five children suffer. All she could imagine was Ilia and Rion and what it would take for her to kill them, and she knew that nothing would make her kill those two children. She'd rather die herself them bring either of her two shining lights to harm.

Then as she thought, a tap on her shoulder made her jump slightly and she span on her heels to see a young man.
He was short and unusual looking. Thinner and paler than most she had seen before, with black nails, amethyst eyes and grey veins on his skin.

"Paron me for the intrusion, but could you please explain to me what this gathering is for?" She heard him say and she looked over him for a few more moments before answering.

"A trial I think. Apparently a woman, she killed people." Elin said, trying not to show how angry she was. "They say she killed her kids. Five of them." she continued, feeling her rage and fear grow, this time mixed with sadness. "Somebody said she did it to feel young. I didn't know people could be that heartless."

Elin went quiet for a bit, peering over the crowds to see if she could see anything, but she couldn't see anything and assumed that nothing was happening yet, before she turned back to the young man.

"I'm Elin." she said calmly, offering her hand to him in a friendly manner, attempting to make herself feel more like how she had before she joined the crowd and learnt what had happened.
Part of her wished she hadn't been so curious and that she'd kept away from the crowds. Then maybe she wouldn't be feeling such a mix of negative emotions. Maybe she'd still be feeling friendly and at home in Alvadas.

Boxcode by Gossamer

[Vaerin]

The woman seemed surprised to have been approached, given the little jump. She appraised him for a few ticks as it appeared she ruminated on a response to briefly explain the situation. Dra-Vaerin did not know what he expected to hear. Perhaps something was growing out of the well? That would have been festive and fun, surely. Yet it wouldn't explain the almost vindictive air that the crowd seemed to foster now that he was amongst it. Perhaps he was still very much projecting his feelings about Syliras onto the situation he was currently in though?

"A trial I think. Apparently a woman, she killed people." The woman's intonation clearly indicated her true thoughts on the matter, even if they were dulled. Vaerin's mouth fell open out of shock. That in of itself was bad enough to hear, the death of multiple people at the hands of one. However, it appeared there was more to the story, as the woman continued to speak.

"They say she killed her kids. Five of them...Somebody said she did it to feel young. I didn't know people could be that heartless." The woman's emotions were so strong, the weight of Vaerin's heart felt so heavy that it plunged to the soles of his feet and continued to freefall into parts of Mizahar yet unexplored. He was almost certain upon hearing the rage and sadness in her voice that she was a mother. Or possibly one of the most empathic people to have ever existed. His eyes widened as one of his hands rose to clasp his mouth in shock, muffling the sharp exhale that followed.

The woman turned away from him for a moment. Whether it was to recompose herself or look to see if there was something happening, he was unsure. The young man did not expect that what was told to him would even be a possibility as to the nature of the gathering though. It was not even a remote possibility that existed in his mind. The perturbing nature of the acts described sounded more akin to something out of the grimmest, depraved horror story he could think of. It left him speechless. Something so depraved would have never have happened in Kalinor. Although, to be fair, to these outsiders most 'mothers' would never live long enough to do something so reprehensible to their offspring. He was almost shocked to think such a callous thing. Truly that was out of character for him. Perhaps the heat of the previous season had still left a trace of bitterness to his personality?

When the woman turned to face him again she extended a hand to him and introduced herself as Elin. Dra-Vaerin was temporarily flummoxed by the situation. This to him was an odd gesture, rarely had an action such as this been offered to him. It almost seemed incongruent, especially given the nature of the events taking place in their surrounding. He didn't detect any immediate hostility in her actions though. In fact, it seemed to be friendly in nature. Perhaps she wanted to distract herself from thoughts about the situation? He would not have blamed her if that were the case, indeed he could have done with that as well. He had been burnt thinking that too many times before though. However, he decided to just play along for the moment. The young man gently slipped his elongated fingers into the woman's outstreched palm and shook it.

"Hello Elin. I am," He almost inevitably paused to introduce himself by name. Never really sure whether to use the title most associated with his caste of people, "Vaerin. This is a rather horrific thing to hear about. How could someone do that to their own children?"

Truly, it escaped any realm of plausibility in his head to hear something like that. What had to be going through the thoughts of someone's head to feel that taking another's life in such a manner was ever necessary. His patron god would have been enraged by such a senseless and horrible act. Indeed, Dra-Vaerin felt the woman in question in no need of mercy or sympathy should this be true.

"Hey! d'ya see that?!" A voice close by shouted. Another quickly responded. A third voice just in front of this woman, Elin, responded.

"It's the Lady of the Swords of the speakers! She is approaching!"

Taken with the sudden draw of interest, Dra-Vaerin could see just to the right of them the crowd part around a singular glittering and lithe figure. What he could make out of the figure was an elaborately garbed feminine figure that moved with such a dynamic and seductive quality that she appeared to be like a sword in motion in the hands of a master. Her face completely covered in a mask design that seemed to mimic the pattern of Syna high in the sky but angled sharply like the swords that established the motif of her name perfectly. The fabric had a metallic quality to it, almost like it was spun from gold, but reflected other dynamic shades of red, blue and purple throughout. Not that Dra-Vaerin was immediately aware of it, but other similarly highly decorative and colourful characters approached from opposite ends of the crowd. A podium of sorts seemed to raise itself up from around the well, which also rose. Almost as if to give everyone around them a better sight. The crowd began to cheer as these figures converged on the platform.

Partially taken in by the spectacle in front of him - after all, who would not be caught up in these kind of theatrics? He leaned in towards Elin and whispered,
"Forgive me, for I am new to the city...are these 'speakers' dispensers of justice?"

[Elin]

Elin saw the man express shock and she wished that she'd never left the inn and spent the day oblivious to everything that had gone on. If she hadn't have left the inn, or if she hadn't have come this way, she would have been in her happy mood and not experiencing the feelings of sadness and rage.

She would always find it hard to believe that any mother would be capable of killing their children. Her own gut instinct was to protect her children, to keep them safe from harm at all cost. She would even give her own life to keep her precious babies safe and happy. Just the thought of any harm coming to her two bundles of joy made her heart ache with the pain that she imagined was far less than that she'd feel if anything really happened to them.

That alone made her wonder what sort of monster this woman was! And how she could have made such a choice. What had made her behave in such a horrible way and what pushed her to commit such a heinous crime, or had she always been such a vile woman, and had those poor children suffered before their deaths. She simply hoped that she had been a good mother before whatever caused her to kill those kids and that she had cared for them the way Elin cared for her own.

Then, the feeling of the man taking her hand brought her back out of her own thoughts as he introduced himself, and Elin attempted to smile. It was a weak smile and obviously not genuine, as much as she wished it could be to meet the boy.
"Hello Elin. I am, Vaerin. This is a rather horrific thing to hear about. How could someone do that to their own children?" she heard him say and she sighed.

"Honestly, I don't know." she said feeling more anger rising through her, this time paired with a protective instinct. She wanted her children near her so she could make sure that they were okay. "Personally I'd rather die than see any harm come to my kids. I'd never even think of causing that harm to them." she found a lump forming in her throat and decided not to speak more before she heard voices shouting.

Instantly she moved onto the tips of her toes, trying to peer over the crowd to see, despite having to flatten her feet every so often as she lost balance and risked falling.

Finally she managed to catch a glimpse of the Lady of Swords, then the Seamstress, and then the Silver Serpent, and as she saw each of them slight smile came across her face and grew. Now that they were here the criminal, as Elin couldn't call such a wicked being a mother, would receive their punishment and justice, though Elin couldn't see any way for justice to be restored after the murder of children.

"Forgive me, for I am new to the city...are these 'speakers' dispensers of justice?" she heard the man ask and she turned to him slightly sheepish. In all honesty she wasn't entirely sure, being fairly new to the city herself, though she'd seen a trial before.

"I'm fairly certain they are. They've done a few other trials, and I think that they're the ones who're supposed to protect Alvadas and keep everyone safe." Elin theorised as she looked at Vaerin, trying to remember if anyone had actually told her what the Speakers roles actually were. All she knew for definite was that they were influential in the city, and that some people even had a favourite speaker.
Elin wasn't one of those that had a favourite yet, having not really learnt much of any of them. She wasn't even sure what most of them looked like, only having seen the ones at the trials, though they could have been all of the speakers, or there could have been more speakers that hadn't attended the trials.

Then Elin saw that bring the criminal out and she felt her blood beginning to boil at the sight of such a monster.
"Petching pile of shyke deserves everything she gets." she hissed through her teeth, pure hatred in her eyes every time she caught a glimpse of the thing. Now Elin couldn't even bring herself to think of the criminal as a person. No person should behave that cruelly and expect to be viewed as what they were before they thought up such a crime.

Then as she stared with a look of hatred, one of the speakers began to announce the criminals crime and shocked gasps could be heard throughout the crowd.
Elin was not amongst those gasping. She was seething with rage in a deadly silence as she glared towards the criminal and the speakers, though she didn't want to seem overly cold and she turned her head to Vaerin.

"What do you think will happen? What sort of punishment could ever make up for such a crime?" Elin said attempting to suppress her rage, though it was audible in her voice despite her attempts to disguise it with apathy. "Even if she is killed, five children are still dead and nothing will bring them back or reverse what she has done. At the end of the day those children are gone, and I hope to the gods that they didn't suffer." she said, her voice losing the tone of rage but gaining a sadness to it.

Boxcode by Gossamer

[Vaerin]

What Vaerin felt transcended being flabbergasted. What he felt clearly had no direct comparison to the visible disgust that was present from Elin. The way in which his viewpoint was influenced by the matter really did tie in very much with the way his mother had dealt with the situation of rearing him. It struck him to the core in a different way to the pain of imagining the situation as a mother. He imagined the crime from the perspective of the child. How easy it would have been for his mother to have considered a similar course of action. Dra-Vaerin was sobered by the haunting reality that one of the most influential figures for those children had been the one to extinguish the flame of their lives. Had they been terrified in their final moments? Did they feel betrayed, confused, angry? Maybe all of the above.

Even thinking about it hypothetically weighed heavily on the young man's heart.
Part of him felt that this was enough. He was ready to leave knowing what was about to take place. He had no desire to be so voyeuristic about such a heinous act.
Yet, the part of him that was curious and wanted to be included in social events demanded satisfaction. Perhaps it was always this way, and up to the individual to figure out what they were willing to be privy to. Something also told him that this woman he met would need a sympathetic ear, as it was evident by her following words that she was taking the news of the events surrounding this exhibition heavily. Though her words quickly proved his earlier suspicions to be correct. She was indeed a mother.

"Such acts really are a sign of a diseased mind..." His voice trailed off, uncertain of what to say in this situation. He would hope that atrocities such as this were uncommon as well, but the world that they lived in was not an ideal one. He had a particularly bleak world view, but even he realised the necessity in trying to find something to fill him with hope. Otherwise, it would all be too much. There would be no point in continuing on. He hoped that the woman realised that as well. The actions of this reprehensible woman were not hers, and there was going to be a fitting punishment for what was done. That much was being made increasingly obvious by the intensity of the ill-will the crowd sent out. A sardonic part of his brain noted that it was almost nice to not be the one to be the recipient of such animosity.

Though he was much too short to see over the crowd to the other approaching members of the Speakers, he was sure the others were as thematically appropriate to whatever their namesakes were. Even though the events that were obviously about to proceed were going to be very grim, he was admittedly very taken in with the very theatric way in which this trial was being handled thus far. It was unlike any method of justice he had witnessed before. The eyes of Kalinor did their dispensation of justice in the shadows, without creating a scene at all. Symenestra that committed heinous crimes such as taking the life of one of their own were expelled into the Unforgiving and to fend for themselves before news of their misdeeds even broke usually. Though perhaps the highly secretive nature of the Webs may have played a huge part in that. As far as he was aware, his mother was capable of passing him off as full blooded to those that were not of the Datura until he was able to crawl. Nor was it like the almost constantly present and in his opinion foreboding Sylirian knighthood.

Elin's description of the Speakers aligned with the thoughts that he had based on the level of spectacle that was now being displayed by these almost supernatural looking beings so flamboyantly dressed. He watched her intently as she spoke, only occasionally looking up to see if anything new and noteworthy was being done by any of this acting troupe. Her lack of definitiveness in her answer led him to believe that perhaps she was also not too familiar in the city as well.

He broke his eye contact to stare pointedly at the one that appeared to bear some sort of resemblance to a snake as he mused over the topic. "They certainly have a very theatric way of keeping the city safe then.

That being said, Dra-Vaerin did have a high level of respect for those that meted out justice in hopes for a better society. It was an important role to undertake. And it just so happened the way it was done here was very thematically appropriate to the City and its nature. He could think of no other way a city governed by illusion would operate. Even though he was still highly repulsed both by the alleged acts of the woman and his own voyeurism, he felt a certain level of anticipation building in him. Impish and eager, it built up in his chest. What kind of show would be put on for his amusement? Elin too seemed to be exhibiting a similar disposition to the proceedings, cursing the woman under her breath. Yes, this woman would get exactly what was coming to her.

However, her next question brought Dra-Vaerin off of this high that was building in his mind.

"What do you think will happen? What sort of punishment could ever make up for such a crime? Even if she is killed, five children are still dead and nothing will bring them back or reverse what she has done. At the end of the day those children are gone, and I hope to the gods that they didn't suffer." Her tone reflected the complexity of this situation in more ways than Vaerin suspected she knew.

Ostensibly her question was easily answerable. A life for a life would have been the simplest answer. Yet, as she pointed out it would not change the fact that the deed was done. Nothing would change that, nor would any form of public humiliation done so through this performance lessen the severity of what transpired. Suddenly this event felt much more sinister to the young man? Of what benefit was this event to anyone? Was it providing a sense of community? Highly doubtful he thought. It seemed more like an excuse to demonstrate the power of the City over its subjects. Some form of control needed to be maintained, even in a city of seemingly utter chaos. He remained silent, his eyes falling downwards to gain at his shoes as he struggled to find an answer. He felt disgusted with the eagerness he had demonstrated mere moments ago whilst her charges were being read out.

When he spoke, it was measured, though his own emotions clearly slipped through unfiltered. "You make a good point. Innocents are dead, and nothing that is done here will change that. She may be punished but what else would that accomplish? All we can hope is that their next lives are kinder than this one was..."

He did not have much time to ruminate on this, as by the time the Seamstress had thrown the woman to her knees and pulled her hair tightly back, so she had no choice but to look out into the jeering crowd that was calling for her blood. What was going to happen now?

The seamstress gestured to the crowd, her gloved hands curled into sharp needle like talons that almost reminded him of his race's own nails. Both the seamstress and the silver snake spoke out to the crowd in a perfect unison. Their voices merging perfectly into what almost sounded like one. The Lady of Swords seemed to be procuring something from nearby. What it could be, he only could dare to imagine.

"What say you all? What punishment does this crone deserve?"

A thunderous barrage of voices rang out with all grisly forms of torture. How they could pick out just one option was beyond Vaerin's comprehension. Through his revulsion, he could admit that there was a high level of skill that was behind their performance. They were clearly very highly skilled in what it was they did. Part of him wanted to join in with this as well. Since the crime was so horrendous, he hated the vile person behind this crime. But when he saw what was going on around him, all he could see was the same hatred that had terrified him in Syliras. He looked over to Elin to try and get some idea of what it was that she was thinking. His eyebrows sympathetically furrowed.

"Are you faring well? I will admit this is much more confronting than I thought it would be." His intonation was gentle, although still loud enough to be heard by her. But he hoped it conveyed his concern - whilst also masking his growing discomfort. The trial had barely started and yet he found himself feeling so conflicted. He knew that the woman deserved retribution for her monstrous actions - yet all he could think was whether or not such a display really served any purpose but fulfilling a dark and vindictive side of the collective mind of the crowd. Surely there were better ways of disposing of dangerous criminals? He also felt it was telling of the kind of person he secretly was that he had been experiencing pleasure from watching this. Because even now that he wanted to walk away, part of him wanted bloody satisfaction.