The 16th of Summer, 520 AV
Pieces and parts. That was all anyone ever seemed to be in this world, incomplete without those who surrounded them. Since her soul had sprang into existence, that was all Adeliz had ever known, and so she had assumed everyone felt this way. She was half of a whole, the mismatched second part that made up the Akalak that was her soul sister Ines and herself. It was all she had ever known, and unfortunately, she had pitted her purpose for existence on being a lesser piece of a greater whole.
That had been ripped away with Ines’ return to her Kelvic self. The confusion of existence alone still haunted Adeliz, and she hadn’t grown used to being the only being that inhabited herself. This was perhaps what had made her so fond and keen on possession, what had given her such a knack for it. Adeliz was not good alone. It wasn’t death that disturbed her the most though. It was the tiny, nagging, omnipresent thought in the back of her mind that whispered that Ines was better without her, that her sister didn’t want to be a piece, that Ines didn’t need her.
Perhaps working against herself, Adeliz had pulled away, separating herself from everyone she had come to know in her short existence in an attempt to discover where she belonged. But distance made it difficult to discover where her piece belonged. She didn’t want to admit it, but her solemn and bitter nature was pushing Ines further and further out of the reach of her soul. Once, when Ines had been sleeping, Adeliz had tried to possess her and had found no connection there, nothing like what they had shared as an Akalak.
Pieces and parts. The last few days had brought the people of Syka together, given them a single mind in search of the pieces of the lost totems. Her longing for connection had drawn her to this endeavor. She longed to be a part of something again. So she had followed various individuals about, attempting to help them look but always keeping out of their notice. She had been born a timid one, and not even her desire to belong could overpower this. Still, Adeliz followed them, trying to guide them to where pieces of the totem might be hidden, though her search had come up fruitless thus far.
Adeliz’ most recent infatuation had been Juli. She had watched from a distance a season ago when Juli had taught Ines how to swim, all the while her soul sparking nervously for her sister. Ines had done just fine, as she always seemed to do, and had come through the experience unscathed. Since then, though, Adeliz had been curious about the woman who seemed so taken by the ocean. That notion, that the ocean had somehow chosen Juli and she, it, brought an idea to Adeliz’ mind, and she had set into motion the series of events that led Juli to a place where she was perhaps most suited to search. Whenever Juli began to daydream, lost in thought as business had died off with the search, Adeliz had whispered a few words, silently enough that the living woman was certain it was her own thoughts erupting in her mind.
“The Swine Swells.”
It made sense to Adeliz that this would be a place where a totem piece may have ended up. The animals seemed to be working to keep the totems away from the Sykans, a fact Adeliz had witnessed from the beginning. Even Crom, who the ghost was convinced loved her most, had fought Adeliz away from the Sawmill to protect a piece, only to have dropped her guard and let it be found by a tanned Svefra the next day. But the thought of animals made Adeliz certain that the water pigs might be working to hide something in the shallows they were so fond of.
An afternoon of fruitless searching, though, brought Juli back to Mercantile, dripping wet with invisible Adeliz in tow. Exhausted from bells upon bells of swimming and wading, Juli picked up her role of shopkeeper again, falling asleep in a lazy sunbeam, while Adeliz drifted into the shadows beneath the shop to sulk. Everything she did seemed worthless. The Sykans were no further along in their search; and she, no closer to being a part of their whole. Bitter, she brought a focus of mist into her palm and swiped the projection angrily through the sand beneath her, flinging it in a wide arc and watching it fall harmlessly back to the rest of the sand. It was a very unsatisfying outlet. Nothing broke. Nothing changed. She felt no better for having done it, but still, she needed something to do. Adeliz was about to try again when she noticed her previous sweep had uncovered something. Projecting more mist into her palms, she greedily swept more and more sand away until the thing was revealed.
It was wooden, another piece of a totem, no doubt, depicting the long, spindly legs of a bird. Summoning more mist into what would have been her palms, she placed them beneath the piece, hoisted it up, and moved it painstakingly body length by body length the short way to the Commons where the pieces had been accumulating as people had found them.
When she arrived, there was a small crowd gathered together, peering over the many parts that had already been brought together. The man who had ‘stolen’ her prize at the Sawmill was among them, but before him were several other wooden pieces that seemed distinctly bird-like in their features, including a crown of feathers. She approached him, though all he would see was her floating piece of totem. Gradually, she materialized, a shy smile on her face, and the voice that spoke to him came from a few feet to one side of her head.
“Hi, I Adeliz,” she stumbled through her Common. “I think this go with thats.”
The bird legs dropped to the sand between them with a dull, wooden thud as she couldn’t hold it suspended any longer, her concentration on her materialization drawing her mist and her focus away from it.
