Anyone Out There? (Solo)

[Aidara]

47th of Spring, 511 AV The sheets were all tangled and somehow all of the pillows ended up on the floor. Addy was spread like a starfish in the middle of her bed. Saying that the woman was having trouble sleeping didn’t even begin to cover it. Suffering from a massive headache all day, Aidara had to struggle through her work at the Infirmary. With her mind on her bed, in her dark and deliciously cozy room, it took all her willpower to not simply delegate the rest of the work that had to be done and shove off to sleep. Instead, Addy stuck around. As a reward for her good work ethic, problem after problem cropped up. First they ran out of bandages; the Dek that had been in charge of making new ones hadn’t shown up, and no one informed Addy of this fact. Bandage making was a tedious task, made even harder by the fact that she could barely focus her eyes. Then, the cream they used to treat burns ran out. Next, they ran out of clean sheets. While leaving her assistants to make more creams, Addy took it upon herself to retrieve the laundry. The beds simply had to be made. Waddling back down the corridors towards the infirmary with her arms piled high with the linens, Addy decided to take a short cut. Big mistake. Hoisting the laundered sheets up high so that they would come nowhere near touching the ground, the little healer readied for a dash across the Courtyard. Just as she stepped out from the shelter of the corridors overhang, the skies opened up. It had been cloudy and threatening to rain all day, but of course it had to start as soon as she was out in the open. A quarter of a bell later, Addy trudged back into the Infirmary, sopping wet and sheetless (having returned the drenched material to be re-dried). With a level look at Keah and Micquel, she announced that she was going to go home, lock herself in her room and sleep for the next week and a half. So now Addy attempted sleep, but the stabbing pains in her forehead were doing a diligent job of keeping her awake. Rolling from her stomach onto her back, she gazed wearily at the ceiling. Belatedly, Addy realized that Sira hadn’t joined her this night, not that she could blame her. As small as she was, there wasn’t much room left over when Addy decided to spread out in her sleep. Sira deserved a good night sleep as well, and if she could drag herself out of bed, Addy could probably find her curled in her own bed, in her own aerie. Wondering if it was the fact that she was sleeping alone that was keeping her awake, Addy pulled her favorite blanket around her bare form, slipping from her room to the one next door: Sai’s bedroom. It wasn’t until she had slipped into the gigantic bed, with its cold, crisp white sheets that she noticed Sai wasn’t there either. Confused, and rather grumpy that there was no one to snuggle, Addy left her sister’s room and peeked her head into Catabasis’s nesting area. And there was her twin, snuggled up under the giant eagles wing. She must have had trouble sleeping as well. Sighing, Addy converted the blanket she had hugged to her chest into a robe-like-dress-thing, slipped on the closest pair of shoes and left the aerie as quietly as possible. Perhaps a walk would do her good.

[Aidara]

The throbbing directly behind her eyes made the quiet, somewhat cool evening a little less enjoyable. But clearly sleep wasn’t going to happen, and the only people she felt like being around while feeling sick were nowhere to be found, or otherwise occupied. Addy thought of going by Sira’s aerie, but thought better of it. Perhaps this was a good time to be alone. And so she strolled, alone and small, along the dark and enclosed inner corridors of the city. These lead out into the larger outer corridors, but both were just as abandoned. The rest of the Wind Reach seemed to be deeply asleep, and Addy couldn’t help but feel just a little bit jealous. Picking her way along the corridor that circled the Courtyard of the Sky, Addy stooped every so often to collect various feathers from the stone flooring. That was one of the benefits of living in a place infested with giant birds: Unlimited access to beautiful, variously colored feathers. Armed with a handful in only a matter of minutes, a comfortable resting place was found out in the open air of the courtyard. Sitting cross-legged on a ledge jutting out from the wall, smoothed by years of frequent use, Addy took down her hair from where it was piled on top of her head. Slowly and carefully, the tangled mass of red curls was finger combed into a slightly more manageable swath of hair. Parting her hair down the middle, two even chunks of hair was placed over each shoulder. Starting on the left, Addy started to French braid her hair, interspersing the woven strands with the eagle feathers she found. It took only a few minutes of deft finger work and the braid was finished, and she started on the right side. With her hair done, and one feather left over, Addy found herself bored again. Playing with her hair didn’t occupy herself for nearly as long as she had intended, and yet she was too lazy to rebraid just for the sake of having something to do with her hands. Pushing herself to her feet, with the feather twirling between her fingers, she started to walk again, this time out in the open air. It was surprisingly bright, and it took only a moment for Addy to realize that the sky had cleared from earlier. With no clouds in sight and barely a sliver of the moon visible, the woman picked her path by the starlight. It really was a beautiful night, she thought to herself. Finding a sheltered outcropping of rocks Addy settled herself beneath them, somewhat sheltered from the wind. It had picked up since she left the shelter of the courtyard, and since she was pretty much clad in only a blanket, the direct blasts from the wind were a bit too much. It was here, tucked back into the alcove with her knees drawn to her chest that Addy turned her eyes to the stars, only then aware that the throbbing behind her eyes had receded as she sat under the open sky.

[Aidara]

”Addy? Are you okay?” Her head snapped up with a start, woken by the sound of her sister’s voice in her head. Since Addy bonded with Sira, the sisters were able to speak to each other through their Endal telepathy. Sai, normally calm, sounded startled. ”Yeah, Sai, I’m outside somewhere by the Edge of the World. I couldn’t sleep, and took a walk. Is everything okay?” “I just woke up cold and came inside to find the front door open. I was worried when you weren’t in your room.” “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave the door open. I had a horrible headache. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” “Ah. Are you coming home now or what?” Sai was starting to sound irritated. It was the middle of the night, and it was obvious she wanted to go back to sleep. “No. I think I’m going to stay out for a bit longer. The sky is beautiful.” “Goodnight. Shut the door next time.” And Addy knew the conversation was over. The sisters never really closed the connection between them, but each knew when the other was not in the mood for a conversation. There were certain courtesies that one learned when sharing one’s mind with another. And so, to stay true to her word, Addy scooted forward in her alcove as to better see the sky. She hadn’t lied, it was beautiful. The stars were bright and sparkling, brighter than she’d seen in a long time. Despite the fact that it had poured on her head not a half a day earlier, the sky was completely cloudless. This left the different constellations very easy to pick out. They swept across the sky, as far as she could see, in their never changing poses. The extreme expanse of it all made Addy feel even smaller than usual. With a wave of insecurity, pertaining mostly to the distinct feeling of inadequacy, the young woman tried to pick out her favorite constellations. There was the Eagel of course, with its wings spread wide as it soared high in the sky. Ignorant to what the rest of the world thought, Addy only knew what her fellow Inartan’s felt. To them, the Eagle represented their guardian. It was said to be watching over the rest of the constellations, guarding them from any misfortune as it glided from east to west. Below it was what looked to Addy as a feather. Not very versed in astrology, she decided she could make up her own name for it, even if it already had one. And so she thought of it as the feather, dropped by the Eagle to spread beauty among her people. They did use their eagles feathers for everything from decorations, to quills. Almost swallowed up by the horizon were what looked like two men fighting. Addy recognized this grouping of stars, but couldn’t pull up a name for them. To her, it looked like one was attacking the other with a sword, the second defending from the blow with an upraised shield. Over the years, Aidara’s aversion to violence had grown, and this gruesome scene depicted in the sky for all of humanity to see gave her the shivers. Addy’s neck soon developed a cramp as she continued to crane her head back to stare at the sky. Laying down and using her hands as a pillow, she let her gaze slowly roam the skies as her thoughts drifted to other matters.

[Aidara]

Insecurities began to creep into the back of her mind as she idly traced a thick grouping of stars that stretched horizontally across the sky, looking much like a puddle of spilt milk. Addy, although she tried her best to hide it, was probably one of the most insecure women on the mountain. Fear of failure, abandonment by her loved ones (especially her sister), and general inadequacy had plagued the majority of Addy’s younger years. Only recently was she able to overcome these shadows in her mind. Mostly because of how busy she had become, running the Infirmary as well as her Endal duties, but also because of the love she had surrounded herself with. It was here, alone physically and tiny under the huge night skies, the fears began their slow creep back up her spine. Memories flowed unbidden into her conscious mind, ones that Addy had done her best to suppress. There was her various spats with Sai, physical and emotional fights that occurred between the two that she had done her best to forget. Then there was the dispute between Sira and Sai, with Addy stuck uncomfortably in the middle. The biggest of the insecurities was the one Addy tried to bury the deepest. Her healing. This was the last to wriggle into her mind, and it soon had its hooks of doubt deep. Within the matter of minutes, her mood went from pleasant and idly peaceful to quiet, shrouded gloom. Her fingers languidly traced the outline of the single Healing Gnosis mark on the inside of her left elbow. Born with the mark, Addy questioned the Goddesses choice in her as a deciple. She had to have seen something in Baby Aidara, didn’t she? But what was it? With only one mark, Addy was hardly a healer at all. Flesh wounds, headaches (she silently cursed herself as her mind stumbled across this realization. She could have cured her own headache in a matter of minutes), bruises and some poisions. And that was it. All those things that were deadly to a being were beyond her skill. And so, as a teenager, Addy had submerged herself in Medical literature in a desperate attempt to make up for what innate skills she lacked. It did some good, but the herbal practices she implemented in the Infirmary in place of her gnosis was mediocre at best. She could be better, much better. “What do I have to do?” Addy whispered at the sky, her eyes lighting upon a swirl of stars that looked strangely like the mark on her arm. She focused on this, her thoughts directing to the goddess Rek’keli. The healer knew that the gods and goddesses walked among them in the mortal world, but there was something about the enormous sky that made the concept of addressing a faceless god easier, especially since she had never met Rek’keli Despite the Inartan’s fierce loyalty of Priskil, Addy was hardly religious. How was she supposed to address a goddess, chiefly when she was just whining? So, she told the sky this. “I… really don’t know how to do this. I feel kind of dumb. If anyone were to come along, I think they would think me crazy, talking to myself like this.” She paused, trying to choose her next words carefully. When nothing came, Addy decided that her only hope of getting things off her chest was to just let it out. She doubted the goddess was listening to her anyway. In the 23 years since Rek’keli had marked her, Addy had only made a handful of attempts to contact her. “I don’t know what to do. Well, I do know what to do. I know how to be an Endal, Sai has shown me that, and I’ve grown tough enough skin that I am not a push over. I know how to walk, talk and eat. I know how I am going to supply for me and Sira, and our family if that ever becomes a possibility. But my healing… that’s what I don’t know. I feel strangely inadequate. My assistants are far better healers than I am, since they realized their passions as Yasi, while I petched around with all the little boys and girls instead. They’ve had years upon years of hands on practice, while I relied only on my Gnosis for so long, before I was shown the harsh reality: it’s not enough to save anything. Maybe save a little pain and provide a little comfort. But if someone lays dying at my feet, I don’t care how good of a healer I think I am. They’re most likely going to die. And that bothers me. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, don’t get me wrong.” Addy, without realizing it, had switched from ‘getting things off her chest’ to talking directly to her goddess. “I’m more than grateful that you chose me. I just…wish I knew what you expected of me. Maybe if I knew that, I could see why you believed me good enough, had enough faith in me to bless me so. I don’t think I have that much faith in me, sometimes. Sure, Wind Eagles, kelvics or not, only choose those who are capable of protecting and providing for our precious city, and if I wasn’t capable, Sira wouldn’t have chosen me….” Addy drifted off into silence as she continued to stare at the constellation that resembled her mark. “I guess I shouldn’t be admitting this before a goddess,” she began, after over half a bell of silence, “ but I guess faith is more important than I ever thought. Faith in myself as well as those gods that decide to smile upon us lowly mortals.” Addy managed a small smile at this before she continued, sitting up. “I guess I have a lot of praying ahead of me, huh?” Finally getting to her feet, Addy dusted off her robe-blanket before turning her face one last time to the sky. Her start emblazoned mark seemed to wink at her, and she smiled up at Rek’keli. “Thank you, Mother.”

[Mercury]

Aidara Skill(s) Leadership + 2 XP Astrology + 5 XP Rhetoric/Prayer + 3 XP Lore(s) No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Splitting Headache Wanderlust Making the Best of Feather Litter Following the Starlit Path Inartan Culture: Eagle Constellation Masking One's Insecurity with Mind Numbing Work Alone with One's Thoughts Calling Out to the Heavens Praying for Guidance Method to my Madness: Really beautiful writing. Loved reading it. I'm giving you the option of choosing between skill for rhetoric or prayer for your one sided conversation with Rek'keli. You can address any questions or concerns to the little voice in your head. A.K.A. PM me.