The Woman Behind the Paints
Meardre was born in Abura, the second of two children. Shortly after her birth, her parents moved into their next "monogamous partnership", meaning that her time was spent divided between them (but mostly with her mother). Her childhood was largely uneventful, but from an early age, she showed a proficiency with painting. A large part of her time was spent painting on every sheet of paper she could get her hands on, be it with an actual brush or with her fingers.
One thing that was interesting about Meardre's mother was that, simply put, she never felt that anywhere was safe enough. Anything that was precious to her in some way, shape, or form was covered with a shield. The only reason the entryway to the house they lived in wasn't shielded was because she had to enter it every day. Around the age of fifteen, Meardre asked her mother how it was that she made such things around her possessions, to which she replied, "magic," which, in a way, was completely honest. When Meardre turned sixteen her mother began to teach her shielding, showing her the delicate art of painting not with colors, but with your own djed upon whatever surface it was you wished to protect.
One thing it could never protect, though, was a young heart. When Meardre was 19, a foreign man named Cabec arrived in Abura, coming from a city he called Zeltiva. Cabec had come to Abura because he wanted escape the monotony and predictability of life in Zeltiva. Like so many other Akvatari did when they heard a foreigner was on the island, she visited him, and they both hit it off immediately. She continued to visit him after her first visit, and by the time she was twenty one, the pair had fallen in love. At twenty two, she bore their first child, a girl whom they named Avtakria. Despite the fact that she was born without wings, Meardre loved her with all her heart, to the point that she and Cabec moved down to a lower floor, closer to the water.
The couple and the child continued living together uneventfully until Meardre turned twenty six, which was when their second child, a boy named Tespal, was born. He also, as a mixed blood, was wingless, but it didn't matter to either of them.
What did matter to Cabec was that he was getting tired of life in Abura. It was beginning to grow boring, just as Zeltiva had. After a long period of frustrated arguing between the two, they decided to leave for Syliras with the children, travelling on foot from Riverfall north because they couldn't get a boat all of the way to Syliras. Before leaving, though, Cabec and Meardre finally made their vows to each other. They vowed that they would love each other, in sickness or in health, in wealth or in poverty, and that they would never cheat on one another until the end of their lives.
When the next boat came (which was an extremely rare occurance for Abura), all four of them departed, beginning their journey to Syliras from Riverfall on foot. Of course, the path was treacherous, but Cabec had not told that to Meardre before leaving. On multiple occasions they only narrowly escaped danger until, finally, danger caught up with them.
A group of slavers ambushed them one night while they were asleep. Meardre watched powerlessly as they took both of her children and her husband. Fearing for her own life, and feeling, perhaps foolhardily, that she might be able to save them if she escaped, Meardre fled the scene, flying as fast as she could.
She lost count of the days she spent wandering alone in the Sea of Grass, uncertain of everything, even things as simple as what way was north. The only thing that brought her comfort was the fact that her chevas mark still decorated her cheek. That was, at least, until the day it didn't. She awoke one morning to find that her chevas mark was gone, and in its place was something she had only ever heard about-- a lacun mark, just below her sternum.
She wept openly and freely that entire day, curled up on the ground, fully convinced that the next thing upon her would be allowed to kill her with no form of retaliation from her. Her life was meaningless. She was lost in a foreign land, starving and dehydrated, and now she knew that the only man she ever loved was either dead or a vow-breaker. What happened upon her next, though, was not a beast as she wished, but a group of strange horsemen. Through her tears and sorrow, she explained to them what had happened, and where she was going, and quickly, they took her from the ground and rode her to the edge of the infernal plains, pointing at the road that was carved through the trees.
She thanked them profusely, for both saving her life and giving her a small sense of purpose again, and then she left, fluttering down the Kabrin road, staying the night in rest houses along the way. Finally, after a full season of travel (the majority of which was spent lost in the Sea of Grass), she arrived in Syliras, intent on finding a purpose within the hustle and bustle of the great city. |
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by Meardre on March 15th, 2011, 12:25 am 
