Nieve had been settling nicely into Riverfall when she first met Sera. She bounded up the stairs of the Cliffside Grotto in her feline form, unfurling her wings and taking to the air with a leap. Flapping hard to gain altitude, Nieve meant to fly across the Bluevein River to the other side when something caught her gaze.
A red-haired woman stood alone at the edge of one of the terraces, leaning heavily on the railing. Evie angled her body towards the ground slightly, arcing herself into a circle above the woman to watch her more closely. The lone figure seemed out of place, and the listless form of the woman spoke of sadness.
Finally making a decision, she spread her wings wide to glide down and landed on quiet paws beside the woman. Blue eyes cast her way briefly, then returned to gaze out over the edge of the terrace; yowlwing were plentiful in the city. In a swirl of lights, Evie shifted back into her human form, and that seemed to catch the woman's attention.
Nieve gave a small toss of her head, narrowing her pale green eyes almost accusingly. "You're not supposed to be sad here. Nobody comes here to be sad." It was a statement, and the petite girl folded her arms over her small chest to emphasize her point. "What's wrong?"
So began the friendship of Nieve and Sera the Nakivak. Uncontracted and only working as an apprentice to a seamstress, Sera had a lot of free time and the two began a fast friendship, spending most days together. For awhile Nieve hoped desperately that Sera may be the missing part of her she was seeking, but it quickly became apparent such hopes were in vain. Still, the two were good friends, and Nieve found the Svefra woman's stories fascinating.
Over the span of many, many days, Sera opened up and told Nieve her story; how she was the only survivor of her pod, the rest of her family and friends having been killed or lost in the Djed Storm that ravaged the land several years prior. After the devastation and loss, Sera found herself wandering alone for a long, long time. She stopped in Sunberth one day, something she had done countless times before, except that time she didn't leave on her casinor.
Captured by slavers, Sera traveled from Sylira to Cyphrus only to be rescued by a group of Akalak; and promptly put back into slavery. It wasn't called that, and it was much more comfortable than many other kinds of slavery, but at the end of the day someone else owned the rights to her and her body. "Because I owe them a debt," Sera said, bitterly.
Nieve took this all in intensely; perhaps because of her youth she was naive, but especially to the Kelvic, such a lack of freedom was appalling. "Why don't you just leave?" But of course nothing is ever so simple or easy. Troubled by her friend's predicament, Evie began to snoop around the city.
Curious as she was, Evie was often naturally inclined to listen to other people's conversations, but now she had a purpose. Nobody paid any mind to another yowlwing sunning itself on a windowsill, wings splayed lazily; but while she did so, Nieve kept her ears up and alert and took in all the information she could. Some of it quickly bored her, and she would actually doze off, or otherwise she would abruptly stand and leap down to prowl the streets for a better conversation to eavesdrop on. Sometimes, she got lucky, but that was much more rare and the information she picked up was often spotty, in broken bits and pieces.
Gradually, however, she put together that it wasn't quite as simple as just paying your debt to be able to leave the life of a Nakivak; it seemed that woman who could birth Akalak children were indeed rare. Unease rippled through Evie as she remembered the conversation she'd overheard of an Akalak lamenting this, and how much easier it would be if only Kelvic could be Nakivak, only to have his companion laugh at him for such a thought.
Then one day, Sera met Evie with her silver undan having been replaced by a golden one. The Svefra woman was clearly upset; while she had never been explicitly told how fatal it could be to birth an Akalak, to avoid upsetting or frightening her, it didn't take much to put it together. Not even Nieve had said a word to her, not wanting to distress her friend further, instead keeping the information to herself.
Time passed and Nieve saw Sera less and less, and the Kelvic gave up on the idea of freedom for her friend; until one day she stopped seeing Sera all together. A few days passed, and there was still no sight of the redheaded Svefra woman. Uneasiness curled in Evie's stomach; as busy as she had become, there was no reason for Sera to have suddenly disappeared completely.
Certain that something must have happened, Evie picked up her habits of slinking around and eavesdropping with purpose once again. However, she wasn't able to find much, until one day an idea struck her. She had never met Sera's patron or even heard his name, but on one or two occasions she had met the Konti woman that had been her Advocate.
With a little bit of work and a little bit of luck, Nieve managed to track the Konti down. It was evening when she knocked on the woman's door, and the Konti gave a somewhat confused but polite smile. "Can I help you?" She didn't seem to recognize Evie.
"I need to speak with you about Sera."
Recognition then flashed in the Konti's eyes, followed swiftly by an emotion that Nieve couldn't place. The Konti woman, A'lienna, almost closed the door on her, but eventually allowed her inside. Bustling around, she snatched a bundle of herbs with long stems boasting white flowers off of the table and put them away, moving throughout her house and tidying other things as well; folding a blanket, taking a mug off of the table, straightening a few books.
Nieve watched her do so with keen eyes. "Do you know where she is?"
The Konti froze for a moment, opened her mouth to deny it, then seemed to realize there was little use in lying. "I might," she finally said, evasively. "I can't tell you, though."
Nieve didn't take no for an answer so easily; she continued to press until finally the Konti snapped. "It's best for everyone that you don't know. You have nothing to give me in return for telling you, in any case. If you had something useful to offer me perhaps I'd be willing to share this secret."
Leaving A'lienna, Evie began to think, mulling over the woman's words; what could she ever have that the Konti would find useful? She had nothing of value and little coin to her name. The word 'secret' returned to her then, and for the first time Nieve began to truly realize the power of information. "Perhaps a secret for a secret," she murmured to herself, making her way down a winding staircase.
It was not a simple task. Nieve hung around A'lienna's home often in her animal form, cautious not to directly watch the Konti for fear of being caught; she also lounged on the Konti's neighbours doorsteps and windowsills, but nothing the Kelvic deemed useful ever came up in conversations she overheard.
She stumbled upon the information she needed almost completely by chance. Having come down with a slight cold but not willing to go to a medical center, Nieve had wandered into a small herbalist shop; in her browsing, a familiar-looking herb caught her eye, and she recognized it as the one she had seen at A'lienna's home.
More out of a simple curiosity than anything else, Evie asked the older woman who ran the shop what the herb was for. "That? That's fairy candle, my dear. A blessing for those poor women that suffer painful monthlies, but I'm always careful of who I sell it to. It's a shame, but some poor girls will try and use it to terminate their pregnancies, did you know?" The woman shook her head with a click of her tongue, but Evie paid it no mind, for things had suddenly come together with enormous clarity in her mind.
Thanking the woman, she dashed off without even buying the herbs she'd originally gone to look for. A secret for a secret, or so she'd thought; but what about a secret for silence? It was then that Nieve began to realize the power that information could hold; secrets could be bartered like currency, and sometimes one was willing to pay the highest price to simply keep one close to the chest.
She found her way to A'lienna's home, not bothering to attempt to be casual; she simply asked straight out why the Konti woman, an Advocate at that, would have something like fairy candle in her home. Guilt weighed heavy on Nieve at the fear in A'lienna's face, but as she had thought, the Konti gladly spilled all she knew for the sole demand of Evie's silence on the matter.
A'lienna had warned Sera of the dangers, but the Svefra had been adamant, and so A'lienna quietly supplied the girl with tea made from the herb. It wasn't long until she was taken to the Oathmaster's Tower, and she hadn't been seen since. A'lienna warned Nieve that such a crime would not go unpunished, and the punishment would not be light; but the Kelvic had to know for sure for herself. She had come this far already.
There was no way of sneaking into the Tower, of that A'lienna had assured her; so instead Evie returned to her usual ways of simply listening unobtrusively. It did not take her long to discover the truth; through the windows of the first floor, which she lounged underneath, she could hear the nurses speaking. They often gossiped when they had nothing pressing to do, as women were prone to do, and a recent favourite topic was the poor Svefra woman who had purposefully terminated her pregnancy.
"What happened to her?" One of the nurses asked, as Nieve listened quietly.
"What do you think? Killing an Akalak child, even just in the stages of pregnancy...well, it certainly isn't a light sentence." There were quiet 'tsks' and murmurs of varying opinions, but Nieve tuned them out. She had known deep down, but she had to be certain of it; and now she was.
That night found Nieve leaning against the same railing Sera had been when they first met, out on a terrace along the Cliffside Grotto. Quiet tears slipped down her cheeks; she had known and loved deeply and truly only two people so far in her short life. Her mother, whom she very well may never see again, and Sera.
Behind her, a deep but soft feminine voice suddenly spoke. "Don't cry, little one. Such is the way of life. Debts are owed and they are paid, no matter the cost." Nieve turned her head, and her breath caught. She almost didn't see the woman at first, so well did she blend in with the darkness around her; her skin was a deep blue-black, the same shade as the night sky, and her eyes were a startlingly intense silver.
Evie had never been particularly religious; her mother had been devoted to a few deities, but she herself had never seen the appeal or caught interest in it. But standing in front of the Goddess of Night and the Mistress of Shadows, she felt both elated and humbled; is that the feeling that drew her mother and so many others to worship the many Gods and Goddesses?
She said nothing, but the Goddess before her didn't seem to mind, and continued to speak. "I have had an eye on you for sometime. You are a natural seeker, aren't you? So inquisitive. I was hoping you would prove yourself, and you have. You did well to discover the truth of what happened to your friend, seeking secrets and wielding them; as armour and weapon both."
The gentle praise sent colour rising to Nieve's cheeks, where her tears were beginning to dry. "Thank you," she finally said quietly, unsure of how else to respond.
"Take my gift, seeker. Allow the shadows to be your friends; friends you can never lose, and friends who will help you find your secrets should you ask them nicely enough." There was almost something like amusement in the Goddess' voice for a moment, but it was quickly gone. She reached out and wiped the remaining tears from Nieve's cheek with a gentle but firm hand, and the Kelvic gasped quietly as she felt the space between her shoulder-blades tingle; it was intense, yet not quite painful, and passed quickly.
Ever so suddenly, she was aware of the shadows around her cast by the lights in the garden; they flickered and swayed with a life of their own she had never before realized, and whispered to her with strange words in a strange language she somehow recognized. Akajia watched her carefully, and Nieve could only repeat herself, somewhat struck dumb by the Goddess' gift and the sudden revelations she was having. "Thank you."
The Goddess dropped her hand from Evie's cheek with a satisfied nod. "Use it well, winged one. I may call upon you again someday; but until that time comes, you will never again be alone. Now, go; there is nothing left for you here. Your future lies elsewhere, on different horizons, ready for you to seek it." Nieve knew instantly what was meant by the words, for truthfully the idea of travelling to Syka had long been living in her subconscious, ever since Sera had mentioned it.
"I will," Nieve said, a sudden wave of determination washing through her. "I will go, and I'll find what I'm looking for." It was true that there was nothing left for her in Riverfall; she no longer felt welcome in the city. It was time she began forging her own way. "Until we next meet," Evie nodded respectfully to the Goddess, who seemed pleased. After a moment, she simply vanished, as if swallowed whole by the night.
For a long minute Nieve wondered if she had not just imagined the entire thing, but the whispering of the shadows around her confirmed it. She greeted them, hesitantly at first and then delightedly, and they greeted her back; laughing, Nieve left the terrace with new purpose in her step. She had travels to prepare for.
![[Verified by Antipodes]](./images/checkmark.png "[Verified by Antipodes]")
Her hair is relatively thick, usually cropped short to her pointed chin and never longer than her shoulders; it is most often in its natural, untamed state of messy, slightly frizzy curls, but on the rare occasions it is brushed out properly is rather sleek and straight. Her curls are mostly dark brown, almost black, but are brindled with streaks of a lighter, orange-y brown as well. Her eyes are almond-shaped, and an unnaturally pale, vivid shade of green with slitted pupils. Evie has a full mouth that hides a set of neat teeth whose canines, while not quite fangs, are sharply pointed; her tongue is also rough and sandpaper-y, much more akin to a cat's than a human's. 
Nieve is no more intimidating in her animal form than she is in her human. The size of a slightly small domesticated cat, Nieve is slender and lean, not particularly different from any other domestic cat; her fur is of medium length and patterned tortoiseshell, with the primary colour being a ginger-brown and the secondary a deep brown, with very faint hints of white peeking through on her legs and at her chest. Her eyes don't change much, simply paling slightly and becoming brighter.
Evie's heirloom is the ocarina that once belonged to her mother, a gift from her father from the brief period in which he was with Darcy. Nieve has fond memories of being young and having her mother play the instrument to her and she is much more fond of the high sounds produced by it than any other instrument she's ever heard. She's taken it upon herself to learn to play the instrument, but is still very new to it and is learning mostly through trial and error.
