by Saiyin on March 17th, 2018, 5:27 pm
.
.History
There was always something amiss in the Sesr household. Something afoot. Saiyin was born in Spring under the pastels of a pre-dawn sky and on the soft, springy, grassy garden of her childhood home. She was born in the garden because her father, a highly-strung man, had cast his pregnant wife and the midwife out so that Saiyin's untimely birth wouldn't be daubed in the bad luck he thought was currently infesting the house. The labour had started in the afternoon and finished as the sun started to think about rising and the moon was reluctantly leaving the sky.
Her childhood was an unusual one. Her mother was just as prone to flights of fancy as her husband, and they struggled to bring up Saiyin in any kind of normal way. Amythystia (bearing the kind of name that would make Saiyin cringe to say out loud) was an explorer and a writer who tended to get into trouble. Her father, Marius, was a religious wizard who dabbled with too many things. They were not very adept as parents, with their only good parenting technique being that they encouraged and believed in Saiyin.
Her childhood was a mixture of education and friendship, and it was good. Her mother got in an accident involving a ravine and died when the girl was just twelve, but as Amythystia had told her each and every time she left the house, "I'm likely to die on this mission, Saiya! It's dangerous and I love you," Saiyin was prepared even if she did struggle with grief for several years.
Marius was forced to sell some possessions in order to pay for the funeral and to keep the two alive, but life was good even despite the tragedy. Saiyin had always been a mother's child, but now she found comfort in her father's study and the two developed a good rapport. Marius taught her some of his mother-tongue, which being a Svefra meant that Saiyin came away mumbling daft phrases about seagulls and oceans in Fratava. She was happy when her father found a new wife, because despite being somewhat silly he was a kind-hearted man.
Saiyin's step-mother was a lovely Eypharian named Hessel who moved into the Sesr household when Saiyin was 19. Teenage Saiyin got along well with Hessel, who was down-to-earth and quite unlike her bumbling father. They talked a-plenty and when Saiyin expressed an interest in her home, she began to teach her Arumenic to sate her curiosity. For a couple of years the family simply existed in a state of contented happiness, but then her father began an experiment.
It was clear to the two women in the house that Marius should not be going down the route he was taking. There was an aura of stress and worry that only Marius seemed oblivious to, although his face was sheened with sweat and anxiety. Hessel tried to talk him out of it, and when that failed Saiyin stepped in to try and convince him, but it was too little too late. Marius left the house and plunged himself into the sea to drown to death, a victim of overgiving and guilt.
It was a hard time for Saiyin, who had just turned 22. She and Hessel arranged for the few remaining possessions to be sold off give them a few mizas with which to work. Hessel left the house a few months after her husband's death, but Saiyin didn't blame her for leaving her. The house was a place of sadness now, but life had to go on.
For half a year, the young woman wallowed in her pains and despaired. Then in the Autumn of 514, a childhood friend knocked on the door at let himself in. He visited her every other day for a season, making her see sense and reason, telling her that she couldn't give up. It was a dark period of her life, but finally she realised the truth- that there was no point in living in a dark place when there was still so much light in the world, and so she looked around and celebrated her parents rather than feeling mournful that they were gone. She began to go for long walks around Lhavit, talking to people, making new friendships and acquaintances.
Now she works and studies and enjoys herself. She still speaks to Hessel from time to time, and to her friend that pulled her from her dark place, but she is independent and free-spirited. She doesn't define herself by the tragic deaths of her parents, but nor does she forget the danger they constantly placed themselves in, and the magic that ended her father's life. She knows that danger is part and parcel of life on Mizahar, but she is sensible and that is good enough for her.
Hessel's Teachings
Hessel was a woman of art, and her particular brand was glassworking. Saiyin knew about her fascination with the tricky artistry of glass, but it wasn't until Saiyin had inherited her own home and knew Hes as more of a friend that she too became interested in the artform. Although Hessel only tinkers in a workshop in her own home, she was happy to let Saiyin learn what she could from her and the two bonded over this shared interest in the mechanics and the beauty of glassblowing. The two women regularly craft glass together and experiment with what they know.
.
Last edited by
Saiyin on June 6th, 2018, 7:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
![[Verified by Luminescence]](./images/checkmark.png "[Verified by Luminescence]")
