[Flashback] All Good Things Come in Small Packages (Solo)

by **Talya** on May 16th, 2015, 12:26 am

Timestamp: Summer 67, 510 AV

Reik had given Talya a gift before she left and told her to open it when she had gotten home and was alone. It was wrapped in a smooth white paper, with grey speckles. It had been folded over several times, to fit the contours of whatever it contained. The Ethaefal could trace the creases with her fingers if she wanted, and the shadowed edges, where ridges had formed around the corners. But she chose not to as her eyes trailed over the grey flecks; mottled and uneven; bursting, like the night's stars. Her mind twisting them into constellations before her very eyes, as she set herself down on her bed with a silent plop, the rectangular gift resting in her lap. Where there, she noticed the little and big dipper. Their gentle scoops running against one another. She noticed libra, which to her, had always seemed more like a parallelogram than a scale. An eternal symbol of balance. She pointed at the stars that made up Capricon and Ursa Major, before sighing and wondering to herself what was in the package, and if she should open it now.

Talya ran her hands over the paper, smoothing it out. The gift felt firm beneath her hands, and this, she found strangely reassuring as she set her palms on the side of the package. Framing the center where the stars of pisces emerged. Twin fish, swimming around in an endless circle. Chasing each other's tails; nipping at each other's proverbial heels. She watched them idly as her eyes fell out of focus, forcing the image to spiral around the page. The koi-like entities winding back and forth, along a current set within the paper. A strange thing that the Ethaefal couldn't quantify as anything greater than its grain. An occurrence that gave it texture, and seemed to add credence to the picture she had created within her mind's eye, of pisces splashing above and below the surface. Ruining the tranquility that had once been in a series of small ripples.

Ripples that led to blurry sea of clouds; which temporarily masked the stars she had seen on the paper. Which, also, led her back to wondering what the gift from Reik could be. As, she hadn't known him long, and didn't know much of his tastes, and she supposed, he of hers. But all the same, she was excited, as she had never received a gift before. Or at least, not a real gift, not something picked out specifically for her, not something from the heart.

The Ethaefal breathed deeply as she stared at the gift, without truly seeing it, and finally, decided that now was as good a time as any, and she would open the present without any further ado.

Excitedly, Talya tore at the paper, wrenching it away from whatever it encased, and tossing it all onto the floor; causing the grey flecks to flicker as the sheets fell over her bare feet, and her eyes swept over the book for the first time. A simple thing, bound in leather. Crudely made, she supposed, although she hadn't seen many books before, and for the most part, only from a distance. So this, she opened reverently, and found it was a book written for her by Reik on the god Leth. A book written in an ink as black as a raven's feathers, in a hand crisp, and neat. The letters printed legibly, and close together.

"Wow," Talya whispered, as she ran her hands over the paper. A part of her not believing that it was now her belonging, while another wanted to simply test what it was made out of. A smooth, yet aging paper, yellowed at the ages. I wonder when he made me this, she thought, must have taken him awhile... I should do my best to remember to thank him.

Talya smiled as she shut the book, and set it down on the table. Determining there and then that she wanted to save the reading for later, for some time before bed, as she lay herself down. Resting her head down comfortably on the pillow, before tucking her arms beneath it, and looking up at the ceiling.

by **Talya** on May 16th, 2015, 12:27 am

At which point, she began to wonder why Reik had written a book for her about Leth. Why not Priskil, when he spoke so highly of her so frequently? And for that matter, why not any of the other gods? Was it because he had seen her as she truly was now, an Ethaefal of Leth? One of his few daughters? She couldn't be sure as she studied the lines of the ceiling. The seams between each wooden board. Either way, she knew it had meant a lot to her, as he didn't have to give her something more than the gift of his lessons. His knowledge within the voice of each of the private conversations they had had over the past few weeks of their otherwise dull and mundane lives.

Perhaps, Reik was trying to show her something. Perhaps, he was trying to show that Leth and Priskil weren't so different. Or perhaps, Leth and Rhysol. No, he would never do that. That didn't make any sense, with how he had spoken of him. So perhaps, it was to show that they were vastly different.

But were they, really?

One was the god of evil and chaos. The other of the moon. The final, the goddess of radiance and hope. Rhysol was associated with darkness, and Priskil, much like Syna herself, could be argued to find an association with the light. Leth rose only during the darkest hours, and yet, he glowed a pale, milky white, although his face was marred by splotches that appeared either black or grey, depending on just whom you asked. But was this enough to throw Leth into either category? Especially when he glowed? Which, Talya had heard said, was merely Syna's light reflecting off his surface, lending him an energy, which he had not possessed before, although you could no longer see her.

Tal wasn't sure she believed this to be true however, and even if it was somehow proven to her, she wasn't sure she could believe it anyway. Not when she felt that she knew that Leth held his own radiance, that somehow, unlike many of the other gods, he was somehow neutral, as opposed to good or evil. A god that took no sides, but merely shed his light down upon all. But how could this be, for surely, somewhere deep down, even he had an opinion? Even he took a side, although he may not have always voiced it.

Tal sighed.

Just what was it then, that all of these gods had in common, or not?

Was it merely the notion that Leth was both ying and yang, while the others rested on either side of the coin? And he, on its ridges? Somewhere in the middle, balancing them out like... oh, she didn't know, Avalis, perhaps?

Tal couldn't be sure, not unless she read the book. But still, she didn't want to. Still, she wanted to allow herself to philosophize. To guess, and to wonder just what might have been cast down by Reik's mind, and his hand.

So, she let her mind wander to the many things the night sky presided over- the occasional comet, or meteor, the moon, the stars. Whatever planets may be resting far out there, in a place she could not see with her naked eye, or any other. A place that no one could discern. And she thought on the patterns they made- the intricate weavings of white and silver. The way the stars seemed to sparkle as they burst with a fiery intensity. So many hundreds and thousands of miles away, only noticeable by way of their sheer size. She couldn't even imagine how large they must be. How much they would dwarf her if she somehow managed to find herself standing beside them.

The Ethaefal tried to think about that then. Standing beside a star. She tried to picture what their heat would be like- more intense the Syna's rays. To the point where her skin reddened to the point of making her seem a lobster, if not one of the sun's kin. To the point where it burnt and flaked away from her body; falling like a first snow. To the point where their light was so intense, that she had to look away, or fear being permanently blinded. She tried to imagine their size next. The sheer immensity of even one of the smaller ones. She had heard that the sun was one of those, and one of the least bright, but she found it difficult to believe as much, considering how hot summers could be, and how noticeable the sun was, among other things.

Tal thought specifically, about what it would be like to stand beside the sun. To look up at something that was at least one thousand times higher than the tallest building she had ever seen in her life. Which, she supposed, might have been the Temple. She had never been so good with that sort of things. In any case, her mind could scarcely wrap itself around such an idea, and she found herself moving onto another. The shape of star, how they seemed so perfectly circular most of the time, if not diamond shaped. How she doubt they would look the same if she were close up.

Then she wondered what it would be like if she could look at them all at once. If the sky unfolded before her if it was a map. She wondered how many constellations she would be able to pick out then- if there would simply be to much to look at, even to pick out the most obvious things. Like the dippers, or that set she had found of five, that looked a bit like a wolf. She wondered if she would see a larger picture- entire stretches of blackness, or of stars. A new set of constellations- perhaps even some building off the old. And she wondered if even in those distant places, Leth's light could reach, or if something else shined down upon them. Another Leth to another person on another planet she could not see.

If such existed.

Perhaps it could, she thought. And just as much, she thought the thought mad.

But, she didn't like to see herself as crazy, or as a dreamer, so she forced her mind to move on to something else. Namely, the sight of her favorite god, (although she would never tell anyone, especially not Rhysol). The whiteness of the moon; the way he shifted in and out of the light. Waxing and waning. Becoming full and naught at all. Becoming a gibbous or a crescent. A silver sliver like a smile.

She sighed, and in that, as her mind lost its train of thought, as her mind forgot what it had wanted to be thinking about and considering all of this time, she realized she loved him, no matter what anyone said. And Talya knew that she would never want to disappoint him, which made it all the more important to her to figure out whose side he was on, if he was on one.

Would he approve of Rhysol?

Her life as one of his followers? As one of the Black Sun or Ebonstryfe?

Or could she only be of him if she followed this goddess Priskil, that everyone in Ravok seemed to speak ill of? A goddess, to her, which seemed only to hold a good name, but no deeds.

But what did she know?

She hadn't even spent a full year on this plane yet. Past lives, and intermittent memories or not, there seemed a whole new world of things for Talya to learn, before she cast her judgment.

So perhaps, it would be best to begin.

After she had a little rest...

by **Elias Caldera** on May 26th, 2015, 10:08 pm

Behold, Your Just Reward!

Talya

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