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Post by Storyteller on Jan 25, 2021 7:08:43 GMT
I lean my head against his breast and enjoy the return. When at last we are at the Hooded Falcon, I redress and invite Merchant Árón to sit with me in my chambers.
"Thank you," I say, kneeling before him. "Thank you. You have been Galadrin's grace to me."
I fall silent. I want to tell him all about myself, but why should he care? He has been a priest, done a priest's offices for me, has been kinder than I could have expected anyone to be to me. But why should he care about Mairwyn? What is Mairwyn the Mariner to him, any more than Mairwyn of Ravenwood?
So I sigh, and I look up at him, then lay my head on his knee.
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Post by Diocles on Jan 25, 2021 23:16:56 GMT
Árón strokes your red hair, and his tone is gentle, warming your chilled body. "I have traded your fiery logs to my innkeeper contact and have made quite the deal on them. Thank you. But not for that but for your own beautiful self will I listen to your tales. Tell me all, little Mairwyn, of your adventures, for I am fascinated that a Ravenwood graduate could abandon her training and embrace a god."
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 25, 2021 23:54:38 GMT
I begin, first with the journey back from Nirrion. "Iritari was so beautiful, so pure and lovely," I say, tears glittering on my lashes. "And he loved me. But the Ithacul took him. I ... I gave him light to take with him beneath the waves. I did not want him to be lost to darkness." I look up into Árón's face. "It was then that I first understood the resistless ways of Galadrin. For Cian, Chaos-Lover, may he be thrice-accursed, was also acceptable to the Ithacul. But I realized that he was not acceptable to Galadrin! And then my mind was opened to the intricate ways of Galadrin, for he is a King, and he requires of us the best that we can give. But though the sacrifices we make may be of our own heart's blood, yet he is a gracious lord, and he will not be outdone in bounty. We give him the Sacrifices, and he grants us peace on the waves. What we give to the sea, the sea keeps, only to return somewhere else, even if it is not for our own eyes again." I sigh. "Those burning logs that you were able to trade, they, too, are the gift of Galadrin, though it is my magic that has made them. I realized that there would be great need for such things in this darkness, lest so many more perish. So I studied and created the spell, but I gave the logs themselves to the hands of Mariner Petemet in Breakwater, that he might distribute them as he saw fit. I taught the spell itself to the Queen in Arinport, for she is a mighty mage."
I then speak more and more, of Captain Aberana, of my journey to rescue the Sentinel Mikkel Ironeye, and I watch Merchant Árón's face closely. Is he pleased with me?
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Post by Diocles on Jan 26, 2021 0:17:47 GMT
Árón's countenance darkens from the moment you mention Iritari, and it is as if he doesn't hear the rest. He does, of course, but clearly his thoughts are fixed on your Zenji boy-love. "Who was this Iritari? What did he look like?" Árón is jealous, and he wants to know what his rival looks like!
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 26, 2021 0:26:00 GMT
I furrow my brow, and I describe him, in his sweet and boyish beauty.
"I loved him," I say. I lift Árón's hand and kiss the back of it. "May I love you?"
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Post by Diocles on Jan 26, 2021 0:31:37 GMT
Árón suddenly stands and puts your hand aside. "I must be about my business, but look for me presently." And he vanishes from your sight!
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 26, 2021 0:36:34 GMT
Tears fill my eyes. Has Merchant Árón rejected me? Galadrin have mercy on Mairwyn, of priestesses most deject and wretched if it be so!
But he has said he will return. I will wait and hope.
And besides, I would never lie to him. Iritari is in my heart, though he has gone beneath the waves.
A little bit of relief is in me, too. I may be presumptuous, thinking to love and be loved, even if I am girl, but at least I am not so perverse as Aethyl, wanting only one mate!
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Post by Diocles on Jan 26, 2021 0:39:50 GMT
Árón returns after a day, and he takes you in his arms and loves you. He says nothing of his travels, for he can go anywhere on Kailos with but a thought! As you lie in bed together, he speaks. "How will the wizards of Ravenwood feel when they learn you have turned away from the path of your mage training?"
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 26, 2021 0:56:22 GMT
I do not presume to ask about his travels. Árón is not Iritari, whom I met as an equal. He is masterful, and I accept his decrees.
So I rejoice in his loving, and I lean my head on his breast.
"They will, I think, be torn between displeasure and astonishment. In all the history of Ravenwood, I do not know of a single instance of a mage departing from his training. It is," I say, wanting to be fully open with Árón, "such a part of oneself that to give it up would be like giving up an arm. But I could not do otherwise. Galadrin let me see you! He let me kiss you."
I do not speak of Iritari, for I do not wish to hurt Árón, but the Sacrifice is in my heart, too.
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Post by Diocles on Jan 26, 2021 0:57:49 GMT
Árón laughs. "Now wait just a minute. Your devotion to Galadrin preceded you meeting me!"
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 26, 2021 1:05:41 GMT
"Yes," I answer, blushing. "But when I cast my heart upon Galadrin's waters, Galadrin returned it to me." I look into his face. I love him and Iritari both.
Then I sigh, and I speak more philosophically. "The principle holds, though, Merchant Árón," I say. "What had I ever done that Galadrin should let me see the glories of the sea? Yet he granted it. Gratitude only can be the response."
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Post by Diocles on Jan 26, 2021 1:20:03 GMT
Árón hugs you close, your naked body lying beside his under the warm blankets. "Gratitude aligns the soul properly. So tell me, does my little redhaired spitfire go to bring back the sun as she says?"
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 26, 2021 1:25:21 GMT
"I go to try," I say. "I am for Ravenwood because they have the greatest knowledge of all that is in Kailos. But though their powers are great, they ... could not go to seek the sun themselves. Not just for the sake of their own lives, but because they would fail. Their enemies are ... more powerful even than they."
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Post by Diocles on Jan 26, 2021 1:51:09 GMT
"I wonder what could have taken away the sun? It seems to be a feat beyond the imagination of any wizard!"
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 26, 2021 1:54:14 GMT
"I do not know what could have done that, exactly," I say. "The mechanism of the cosmos works very well usually. But I do suspect that the sun is not gone. It is stuck, I think, on the bottom of the world. Else, the seas would have frozen over, and they have not. They must still be receiving heat and warmth from the underside."
It is something I have not even mentioned to Cousin Aethyl, but I tell Merchant Árón...
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