She, of the Earth (Gossamer)

[Ronan]

She, of the Earth

"Mother Mizahar doth come..."

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Timestamp: 65th Day of Spring, 512 AV

Location: Talderan Wilderness

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There was a sense of relief in the return journey. They had been in the frigid north for a long while now, Sama'el's quest nearly complete. And a lot had happened. They had bonded so much more, as a group. Something Sama'el had said a while back... individually, they had their weaknesses, but together, they made up for those with their combined strengths.

They had survived. That was testament to his ideology.

A spreading glee filled him now. When he stepped foot on Cyphrus soil again, the circle would be complete. Funnily enough, it wasn't even thoughts of the tent city that spurred him on. Instead, it was Riverfall. He felt pulled to the city more than ever.

They had camped for a while, allowing the horses, and their riders, some well deserved rest. Sama'el and Issima were lost in conversation, the married couple strengthened by this journey.

Ronan climbed up and walked away from the camp, just a little. He wanted to stretch his legs, take in the cooling air, and have some time alone. He was not used to camping in caves, and beneath trees, where you always shared your bed and your food. This was a different world.

Perhaps the greatest ordeal had come sixty five days prior. When the storm had struck. He shook his head solemnly, stepping over fallen bracken, muttering a hushed prayer to Semele. The landscape was changed, and he still couldn't hold back those fears for Riverfall, and Sanctuary.

Passing another small cluster of trees, two half fallen and collapsed in the ground, he stared out into the wilderness.

"I wonder how you feel Semele," he whispered in Pavi, "Your earth torn asunder..."

[Gossamer]

The sky was only just clearing from a thunder storm system that moved through earlier dropping spring rain and refreshing the wilderness. It was a good day for camping because moving about was dangerous in the unpredictable weather. Animal trails that the riders had been following had turned to mud in the earlier downpours of the morning. Though Taldera had no formal roads through it, the monstrous creatures that lived in the region made animal trails that were sometimes bigger and easier to travel than even the Kabrin Road in Cyphrus and Sylira. Tall trees dominated the landscape though the forest would open up into meadows and clearings obviously caused by ancient fires or even by stone foundations of ruins that used to dot the landscape. Sama'el and his party had passed more of these than they cared to count, some out by themselves and some overgrown as nature reclaimed them. The party was camped on the edge of a meadow made larger by the djed storm that had swept through some sixty five odd days ago. It boardered a hill that was partially barren because of stone outcroppings and featured a cave that seemed to have no occupants though a lingering 'bear in hibernation' smell remained. It was large enough to shelter the horses and its winter occupant had long passed higher into the mountains looking for early berries and scavenging for food. Ronan had managed to climb the small rise overlooking camp kindly giving privacy to the newly married couple. Others in the party had forged out, looking for firewood and gathering supplies for the evening meal. It was a good spot to camp, and Sama'el had called a halt for the party for a day or two for some much needed rest. That meant they'd have some leisure time for certain. Ronan had found some odd things in his pack as well, slipped in by a Konti friend before he left Riverfall. Two hundred golden mizas, enough for some spending and resupply money in Avanthal and a blank book with quill and ink so he could do some recording of his journey if he wanted. There'd be time for that now, since the group was not racking up the miles on horseback and testing the limits of their striders who were so far out of their league in Taldera. The horses tired more outside the grass, having no web to tap into and feed on. They were unused to taking all their energy from what they grazed, and grazing was indeed thin in Avanthal. All the parties mounts had ribs showing that only lush Cyphrus grass could cure. They looked as abused, actually, as the forest around them did with its broken branches, snapped off trees, and torn up earth. And so it was Ronan sat, surveyed, and thought asking his question into the world and wondering if someone would answer. Someone did, though not the person Ronan perhaps would have liked. The ground under his rump shook slightly, though not in the way of an earthquake or say perhaps a cave collapsing. Instead it rumbled and moved as if something swam through it as if the properties of earth and water were identical. A bulge appeared in the land besides Ronan and suddenly a head slipped free of the soil, displacing very little of it. It shook itself, snapped its jaws, and seemed to stretch as more of its body appeared up the slope emerging from the land. Those who lived by the sea had seen them far more often, the Velispar, floating in the water, their coils making humps behind their long snake-like neck far out in deep water. But this one swam through earth like it was nothing and its scales were not the deep blue of sea velispar. Instead it had a bronze sheen to its scales and a rather horse-like face though its snout was far more flattened dorsal ventrally than a horses was. Long sharp teeth filled its mouth, and amber eyes seemed to appraise Ronan thoughtfully. It was big, perhaps bigger than really the drykas was able to tell since most of it was beneath the ground. Four times the size of a horse with an elegant mane of spines instead of hair, the animal tossed its head, snorted the dirt out of its nostrils and then said hello to Ronan carefully in Common. "Greetings. You look like your people are far from their home. Cyphrus, unless I miss my mark. What do you do in these forested lands? I couldn't help but overhear. Of course Semele is angry, but I think perhaps it was a lot less than she expected. The first Valterrian, you know, almost killed her." The creature said, and then began to preen birdlike by dipping its head and washing its scales with its big bronze tongue.

[Ronan]

As Ronan settled down on the ground, he opened his pack and smiled again. He had no doubt in his mind who had left the money, and the notebook. The mizas would come in handy, but he would have to repay her someday. He felt uneasy simply accepting money - perhaps that was why Kavala had placed it in his pack without asking him first. The notebook reminded him of his childhood too, and he was particularly grateful for it. When he had been a child, he had sat in the clothen tents of his pavilion, and scribbled down all sorts. Little songs, poems, and stories. Those days had been the good times.

He gave a start when he felt something below. It was as if the earth moved, a fluid motion passing beneath him. His head snapped round to follow it, the soil visibly raised. When the head poked free, he shot up from where he sat, dropping his pack in shock.

An almost equine face opened its mouth, and its long, slender body followed afterwards. He quickly recognised the creature as a Velispar. They swam the grasses often enough, though they were rare near Endrykas. This one looked different somewhat, though. Its scales had a bronze sheen, and almost orange, smouldering eyes, looked at him. He was tempted to take a step back, but his initial shock slowed a little.

How had it moved through the earth so fluidly. The ground had simply writhed, as if it had been alive. He began to gaze upon the creature with awe.

And then it spoke, in unbroken Common.

His eyes widened, listening to its words. He half wondered if he was hallucinating through lack of food, or sleep. But no. This was real, and this was happening. He acknowledged it with a slow nod.

He finally gathered the courage to reply, face softening. He spoke a little awkwardly in common, often pausing between words.

"We... we are just passing back through. We're headed home, in fact."

When the serpentine Velispar spoke of Semele, it dawned on him that the creature had heard his question, and had risen from the ground to answer it. Had it... had it come from Semele's own clutches?

"I... I know the story. Of Zintila. I have only seen the Stardowns once, though. I suppose this storm doesn't compare to that which struck Mizahar so long ago."

He shook his head, and then looked back towards the creature. It seemed very astute in its words, its appearance belying its knowledge.

"May I ask who you are? And where you came from?" The Velispar had been matter of fact with its previous answers, so Ronan figured it would answer his questions with the same vigour.

He had asked. And the earth had responded.

[Gossamer]

The creature looked up, peered at Ronan again, then went back to grooming for a moment. It had an utterly unconcerned air about it in regards to any danger Ronan might have presented to it. When it was finished its skin gleamed with a metallic sheen and it simply turned to him and responded. "You should never just pass through a place. You should experience it fully. Often, you mortals will only leave your footfalls in one place ever and never return there. You should know that place when you visit. For places are like people, each one unique and individual. This wood has a spirit, a voice, a heartbeat. It has a name and a purpose. And yet here you sit, not knowing what that is. I can tell you are of a mind to want to know, but you are so ignorant, like a child, about how to do so." The Velispar said. It blinked and liquid moistened its eye before it stretched its neck and gave Ronan its name. The sound was like thunder and then soft like the tinkling of bells then silky like water slipping unhindered over stone. The name was complex and alien, but freely given and given in such a way Ronan would remember it, even if he couldn't speak it. "There are no words in common for our words in our own language." The creature said and it was obvious why. Ronan's mind filled with all the images the sounds mimicked to form something complex and certain in his mind, an idea, but one that could not be vocalized without a lot of comparative descriptive words. The creatures name was 'like' a lot of things, but nothing truly was the creatures name. "And what is your name, human? I could guess but it would be pointless. I am very bad with mortal names. You look contemplative. What are you thinking on?" The creature asked, suddenly curious. The Velispar didn't have to ask what Ronan was thinking to know what he was thinking. All the creature had to do was consume his flesh or energy to know his story and his history. A drop of blood, a bit of djed, even a talons worth of meat from the human would transfer all the knowledge the human had into the Velispar's mind making it all that much wiser. But the creature had long since settled into its youth and had found restraint in its feeding. Flesh, freshly exited of a spirit, could do the same thing for the Velispar and truthfully it loathed killing.

[Ronan]

Ronan watched the serpentine creature carefully, still uneasy over the whole scenario.

Its words were ironic. The Drykas were always moving, but at the same time, they did understand the spirit of a place. It was in their nature to take in the breath, the essence of each pocket of the earth, thanking Semele and Zulrav for the grass, the sky, the forest.

When it said its name, Ronan listened and shivered. Though he could not understand it, it was beautiful. Hard rock, thrashing, then silken water, flowing. It was like nothing he had heard before, yet at the same time, it felt comforting.

"My name... Ronan. Ronan of the Windsong Pavilion."

What was in a name? It made him think for a moment. A persons ideals and values seemed bound up in that one simple word. An identity within a name. A person within a name.

When the creature asked him on his thoughts, he blinked, seeing a hunger in its eyes. A hunger for flesh, or simply a hunger for knowledge? It was hard to tell, but there was curiosity there nonetheless.

"I was thinking on the earth... on Semele. That was when you came up from the ground. I often think on the great cycle of things. We return to the earth, then we're born again. And now the storm... I was looking around sadly, wondering how Semele must feel."

[Gossamer]

The creature rumbled a bit, softly, then growing louder, giving Ronan a pointed look when its oddly deep laughter resided. "No, no you weren't thinking such things. But I can see how you'd think that's what your mind was dong. You were wondering why you were here and where you are going, not with your feet but with your spirit. I could hear you from miles away, that sensation of searching, of being lost... you are looking for yourself and only borrowing Semele's thoughts for comfort." The velispar said. A foreleg suddenly emerged from the ground and the velispar dipped its head to nibble it thoughtfully. Soon enough it gleamed like the rest of the creature not covered in loamy soil. "What you should be asking yourself is why you are borrowing Semele for comfort and not looking to Zulrav or Syna or even Kihala. You sit under the sun within the wind surrounded by Kihala's life. But no, you take comfort in thoughts of Semele because you are a child of her body. Her deep underground rivers are your blood. Her bedrock the stuff of your soul. And her bright gems are you thoughts. Your love is fragile like an opal and your values sharp like a diamond. You claim kinship with the Emerald Clan but that would not be the stone you wear, Ronan." The creature said, looking amused. "These...." It said, reaching out its great mouth and dropping two gemstones into Ronan's hands. "These would be yours." The creature rumbled. The stones were the size of small birds eggs, perfectly round. The first was deep earth tones, flecked through with what looked like real gold and copper. Veins of red streaked through it along with bubbles of deep brown. The inside of the stone swirled slightly, as if its colors couldn't settle, even in Ronan's hands. It gave Ronan the impression that there was always something more to it and all he had to do was look deeper to see it. The second stone was shades of green worked through with brown and yellow. There were flashes of blue in it, slight little things, and endless stretches of more green. Its pattern, though, did not change, not like the first swirling stone. The second one might remind Ronan of the gently rolling swells of the Sea of Grass. It felt familiar, like home "Pick one." The creature urged, looking amused slightly. "Then tell me why you've chosen." It added.

[Ronan]

The Velispar's words cut right to the core. Perhaps they were true. He was searching, always searching. Though a road was forming, one that seemed worth travelling amidst all the chaos in the world.

He continued to listen, and blinked only once. It was true that he was a child of the earth. He had always known that. But why Semele? He took comfort in her earthy womb. Even when he was young he had whispered stolid prayers to the Mother Mizahar. She was all. She was everything. And the words the creature used made sense again. He connected with them, and nodded.

Ronan hurriedly placed out his hands as the creature passed him two tumble stones, each as intricate as the next. His eyes went to the gemstone of green first. There was something comforting there. Sky and grass. The open pavilion of Cyphrus that he had lived in for so long. It was static though. Stationary. It was home.

It was the other gem that made him look twice however. The pattern seemed to move, ever in motion. It held the tones of the deepest earth, browns and coppers, and stretching lines of red that twisted and curled and reached. He turned it in his fingers, peering into its glassy depths but he could never quite grasp its pattern.

There had been a time when home would be everything. When the grass would be the security he wanted, but was that because he refused to change. He passed the green stone back to the velispar and kept hold of the deep, ever changing gem. He wondered thoughtfully if this was a test.

"The path in this stone isn't so clear. It isn't even so comforting. But why should we always know what lies ahead? We should choose the path that pulls us, even if it has its hazards. Recently, I've begun to change, like this stone. There are opportunities out there. I don't just have to mourn for the past and sit back and relive it every day. I can make the change that I so wish for."

He breathed at the end of his words, and closed his eyes, clasping the stone. He could feel something from it. Energy. The earth. Whatever it was, it thrummed and vibrated in tune with his self.

[Gossamer]

When he chose to bypass the first stone for the second, the Velispar nodded. It seemed unsurprised though it couldn't have known what Ronan would have chosen. And when he seemed certain, even before he spoke, the first one vanished as if it did not exist. The second sank into his palm, merged with his flesh and vanished without pain. Turning his hand over, the stone emerged from the back of his palm in its center, the swirling mass of gold and oranges and browns somehow seeming to just feel 'right' being there. "That is a Dreamstone." The Velispar said softly. "They have a very unique property, Ronan. If you have one that's charged with its unique properties triggered awake, you have the power when holding one to know what other people need, what they dream of. It's not just what they see when they close their eyes and night and drift off to Nysel's realm, but what they dream for themselves. What they need. This one, this one you picked, will always be part of you, and is very powerful indeed." As it spoke the Velispar's voice changed, lifting, as if it were suddenly someone else. And its great eyes, as it blinked, took on a spark of divinity. A woman's voice spoke through the Velispar's mouth, her soft voice not akin to the movement of sand or the tumbling of rocks. "In choosing it you've chosen me as well. I'm part of you now because you are like the earth. You will always be drawn to it and to those who are also of the earth. You feel alone now, but you will not always be so. Now, from here on out, the stones in the earth will sing to you. You'll known when they are near. You'll know if they are triggered or not and later, if you are worthy you'll be able to trigger them yourself, to call them awake with a voice akin to my own. Velispar will be drawn to you, though only those of the Earth like this creature. You will walk proud and tall and pick your own path and make a difference in the world." The velispar turned Goddess said softly. "But make no mistake, Ronan. You must harden yourself. The Djed Storm of the first of the Spring will not be the end of the danger to my body and indeed to the world. I mark those, like you have been marked, but only those that are warriors as well. Others will select you also, and they will demand equally of you as I will. Someday you can commit yourself further to one of us. Someday you might even give your life for us. But keep it healthy, keep it on the path you choose with a conviction. Know yourself. Know your world. And listen to the earth beneath your feet and all around you." The Velipsar said. Its voice deepened and it grinned, a flush of gold sheen casting over its scales. Ronan might realize it was blushing. "The Lady honors us..." It said, its voice back to normal suddenly, as if Semele had truly left it abruptly. "Funny you picked the Dreamstone. I thought for sure the Cyphrusite would be your choice. You Drykas, never stray far from your home." It said softly, a bit amused.

[Ronan]

No sooner had he made his choice, the stone suddenly melted into his skin. He pulled his hand back, but the movement made no difference. Eyes widening, he realised he felt no sensation until he turned his hand over. The stone sat in the centre of his upturned hand. He did not fear it though. It completed him, as if a part of Semele now physically resided inside of him, not just in spirit.

As he watched the colours of the stone, he listened to the Velispar. Dreams and needs. The unconscious desires of the mortal race. This stone could tell him that? His thoughts danced to Kavala. Could he see into the deepest recesses of her Konti mind?

He hadn't even been looking up, but the creatures voice had changed so dramatically he finally raised his head to stare into its eyes. Something had changed. Something radiant... something otherworldly. The voice too lilted, taking on a softer tone, as if rugged rock had turned into delicate tumbled stone.

He began to smile, unsure of how else to respond. Unmistakably, it was Semele that now spoke to him. He thought to drop and bow and grovel, but he didn't. He remained stood up, tall and proud, becoming the earthen leader she wanted him to be. She saw something in him that perhaps he had seen before, but he had blinked and missed it, never able to grasp and hold on. But the earth was solid. The earth was dependable.

A shiver shot down his spine as she spoke of other dangers. Was the storm just the beginning? What ominous fate awaited Mizahar? As Semele's presence left the Velispar, he felt something in the air like static brushing against his skin.

He looked to his hand again, and then, in his mother tongue, he whispered, "thank you... for believing in me."

He nodded to the serpentine creature. She had honoured them indeed, speaking through a denizen of the earth as her vessel. Perhaps he would see her one day, in all her beautiful crystalline flesh.

He looked to the stone again. He couldn't help it - his body had been changed so suddenly and inextricably.

"Well... it is Cyphrus I return to. But not with the same mind. I know there are other roads I must walk now, and I must strengthen myself too. Semele... our Lady of the Earth. She spoke of other dangers. We must be strong. I must be strong."

For the earth. For myself. For the ones I care so deeply about.

The earth lived through him.

[Gossamer]

Character: Ronan
Experience: +5 Observation, +3 Interrogation
Lore: Velispar: Earth Velispar are talkative, Semele: How she chooses and marks her people, Dreamstones: What they are, Semele: What she expects of Ronan, Semele: She talks through her Velispar
Reward: First Gnosis Mark of Semele

Additional Note: Lovely thread. I really enjoyed the dialog. It was fun bringing out the Velispar to interact with a PC finally... and I really enjoyed the way your PC interacted with it.