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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Beyond - Legends Legends of the Force, Book 2: "Cauldron-born", 26 Chapters (OCs)

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by AzureAngel2, Apr 22, 2018.

  1. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    changes, changes for her
     
  2. DarthUncle

    DarthUncle Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2005
    Such inner strength, it's quite remarkable how she manages to stay relatively calm and above all avoid panic, anger and fear; but with how you set her up so far, it makes sense that she can. I feel for the guy, losing his wife and son, but she even feels obliged to help ease the physical pain due to his own bad way of dealing with it. But, good that it apparently shocked him into cleaning himself up, and behaving. Will be interesting to see whether he finds good ways to make amends somehow. And great to have a dark shadow of an aunt, who stays away when things get though, yeah, dark siders are great, aren't they! I hope Sionnach isn't taken away from there before she's ready to go, on her own terms.
     
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  3. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    @Cowgirl Jedi 1701: Thanks for the confirmation. I needed that badly. @};-

    In the Catholic liturgy one has to say (based on Matthew 8,8) during the mass service: "But say only one word, then my soul will be well." (Paid attention during the Whitsun mass service. O:))



    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: I like the word "riveting". ^:)^



    @earlybird-obi-wan: One of my favourite musicals is "Jekyll and Hyde". There is this quote: "The only thing constant is change."



    This is what I have experienced the past 21 years. Nothing is for certain.



    @DarthUncle: I really paid attention during the professional development training on Tuesday. We talked a lot about "Salutogenesis".

    Well, following the ancient faith of the holy Isle of Cunabula & believing in the Force our dear Sionnach seems to follow this principle naturally. @};-


    Okay, a short update, also for @Darth_Furio, @Kahara and everybody else who is reading this.



    (Still Chapter 3!)

    *******************************************************************

    For the next days I hide away in the kitchen, mainly concentrating on food preparations. Together Svala and I produce a lot of the traditional mountains dishes: bridies, stovies, cullen sink, bannocks, scones, rowies and tablets.

    Now and then Drambuie gives me a thoughtful glance which is difficult to classify.

    I take great care to flatten my growing belly each day with a sash that I have taken from Her Ladyship´s belongings. There is no way that the elderly Elfin woman can know.

    Eventually, His Lordship calls for me. I have no other choice but to go. He is my master still and I am a maid servant. The role allocation within the Elfin society is crystal clear.

    Since I am expected in the fireplace room, I take off my kitchen apron and clean my hands with a wet towel.

    Before leave the kitchen Drambuie sighs, “It is his, isn´t it?”

    I hang my head.

    “I am so sorry.”

    Deep scarlet, even though I did nothing wrong, I leave the kitchen.

    On my way to the fireplace room two guards give me a pitiful look. His Lordship must have told them. By now I believe that he told everybody except Svala.

    With shaking hands, I knock at the door.

    “Come in please!” his voice sounds through the door.

    I use the door knob.

    Relieved, I notice that Gáirdean, the steward, is also present.

    His Lordship is dressed casually in a wide morning robe. His eyes are red, the area around them is puffed. “Sionnach, I owe you an apology,” he starts and breaks off again, fresh tears swimming in his eyes. “No, this sounds stupid.”

    I open my mouth, but Gáirdean signs me to stay silent.

    Together we watch our master pace up and down the room.

    “It cannot be helped, but I wronged you. I told the majority of the household already.”

    Shame floods me, even though I know that I am innocent.

    “I am afraid I have to marry you. Gáirdean and Drambuie advised me to do so. To restore your honour. For the sake of the child that you carry.”

    The world turns upside down.

    ********************************************************************

    The former bed chamber of Her Ladyship Meala O'Gradaigh is the only room in the castle that her widower does not enter. It is like a holy but forbidden place to him.

    I spend my days reading and my nights dreamless. Not a single flashback or nightmare occurs to me. There is no need for me to dwell on the past nor be overly concerned about the future.

    Each time my mind wanders, I focusing on the present. It is not a task easily attained, for the mind is not naturally content with the eternal present moment.

    One afternoon Drambuie is able to bring my herbarium to me.

    Pregnancy has made me heavy and lazy. I cling too much to my comfort and the niceties around me.

    When Her Holiness Mórag MagUidhir announces herself a couple of hours later, it is not only a bad surprise for the staff.

    I put on my Langlauf boots, fighting with the laces.

    Moving my fingers is painful. My knuckles are slightly red and swollen. Not even the Force keeps away all the side effects that my pregnancy has on my body. I am seven months with child now, not knowing whether my body follows the Elfin rules of a pregnancy, which is twenty-four months. Or the one of the Ophidiae with nine months only.

    My intended flight is madness. If the mountain will not kill me the blizzard surely will. But if the abbess she finds out that I am with child things will get even worse. For me, for my child, for everybody in this castle. When I did leave now, all will stay unharmed. My ski will bring me and the baby as far away from Dún Mor-Shiabh as possible. The Force is with me.

    ********************************************************************

    How long my travels through the wondrous landscape of the Montes Nubii last is hard to tell. The sun climbs up and sinks down again at least several times, but I lose count.

    The growth manipulation my body cells have undergone lead to occasional lapses of time on my behalf.

    I decide to just be and to enjoy my surroundings.

    Each time I make camp I gather snow and turn it into boiling water with my special Force abilities. The same abilities help me to stay warm and cosy, especially at night when the temperatures drop.

    Thousands of years ago, when the Elfin race had drawn back into devastated regions like this, they thought the reptilian race of the Ophidea would not be able to follow them. They had been wrong.

    A real powerful Force user can adapt to any kind of climate.

    The members of the royal family are among the strongest and most skilled. Due to gene manipulation I am of their stock and so was the child inside me.

    With each mile that I travel further down into the Lowlands, leaving the majestic glaciers and snow deserts behind, the grip of winter softens. There are more and more patches where skiing is impossible.

    Living in Dún Mor-Shiabh for so long, I had almost forgotten that there are other seasons on this planet. When I reach the tree line, I can clearly see that it is spring.

    Having no need for my skies any more, I rest them against a tree, together with the ski sticks. And just like that, I travel on into the unknown.

    ********************************************************************

    He comes out of nowhere when I am camping near a little river one night. It is not that I have let down my guard. The opposite is the case. He is just not the sort of hunter that I have expected. He is neither a household member of Dún Mor-Shiabh nor of the religious order of the beanmna feasa.

    “Good evening, sir!” I greet the legendary Taran Cù Sìth.

    Like most Elves of the Daoine Side stock he is a very tall person. His straw-blond hair has shoulder-length. It is uncombed and filthy. Dry blood sticks in his stubby beard. Despite his ragged clothing he has an air of elegance around him. Once he had been a nobleman of means. The war against the Ophidea has changed all that.

    “You smell strange, yet so familiar.” He looks down on me with his smouldering eyes of sulphur yellow.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2018
  4. DarthUncle

    DarthUncle Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2005
    Ooh, I am glad that his Lordship realises his errors and tries to mend them as best as his society allows him, though I wonder if perhaps some of his staff should have alerted him to the potential issue with his dear Aunt. But, Sionnach did take efforts to not let that get out, so I suppose it is no wonder it did not. And she does, brave, and self-reliant! ... how does she know Taran's name? (I gather he's a well known legend around there from what she says about him?). Wait, didn't he have something to do with her - eh - genetic mother (or would that veer into spoilery material? Let's call it Legends then, from an earlier, alternative universe?).

    The story covers a lot of ground in quite an effortless way, I see a certain confluence with your protagonists time-fluidity creeping in, and not in a bad way, but again, coming very naturally so that we readers barely know it, but just go with that flow.
     
  5. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Excellent with him wanting to make amends but her not wanting to enter in to a marriage under those circumstances. I love the details of the changing seasons and landscapes.
     
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  6. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    love your descriptions of the planet and the changing seasons
     
  7. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    @DarthUncle: I am glad you noticed the "time warp". ;) As for the things Sionnach happens to know, please read the next update. Then you are able to detect the source of her knowledge easily. :D


    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: I love the seasons, too, and hope the climate change will not make them disappear for good.


    @earlybird-obi-wan: Draconis is an earth like planet. No wonder that the refugees from Terra felt home there immediately.


    Okay, here we go, @Cowgirl Jedi 1701, @Kahara & @Darth_Furio:


    Chapter 5:

    They say that an embryo has no conscience, but the still-born child of the belated Princess Adamah Tamisra Tjiehenet has passed her knowledge of this man on to me.

    Taran Cù Sìth sits down in front of me, cross-legged. “I have been watching you for quiet a while, lass. You are a very surprising thing.”

    It is obvious that he is not using his voice very often. For it is strained and broken.

    I can also tell he spends his days out in the wilderness, possibly in his animal form. Without knowing it I have come too close to his hunting grounds.

    The werewolf takes the tin box with short-bread fingers from my lap. He sniffs at one finger before putting it into his mouth.

    “Bah!” he complains before he spits it out again. “No wonder that you are skinny! Nobody can survive on a diet like this! You will harm the child inside you, if you carry on like this.”

    My voice sounds strange to my own ears, when I address him. Much older than I am. “Why do you not kill the both of us right here and now?”

    Astonished, Taran Cù Sìth looks at me. After some heartbeats he roars with laughter. It almost sounds like barking. “None of you carries my curse. Which is a good thing, I suppose. Normally, I kill all the fruit of my loins. There is just one child of mine that ever survived past infancy. He left the planet.”

    The werewolf is referring to Ruadhan Ahearne, a well-known thief and outlaw even beyond the Elfin realm.

    My stomach turns around, but I do not give in. How I find the courage to stand up, entangled in my own blanket, I do not know. “It is not a curse,” I point out. “You are but a failed gen experiment. You are not even a real nahual.” I smile.“Omnes fatae, boni et Mali, ex virtute naturali habent potestatem transmutandi corpora.”

    “All fairies, good and bad have the power of transmuting their bodies,” he translates very slowly into plain Basic. “It is clear to see for me where you come from, lass. Directly from the laboratories of those cold-blooded snake women. Without their interference my life would have been different.”

    “You are the person that you are due to your own choices,” I disagree. “I was born the way I am.”

    Anger turns his Elfin features into an ugly mask. The beast inside him surfaces. “How dare you talk to me like this, lass?”

    I take a step forward, reaching out for one of his large hands. “Life is always full of choices. Each of us is responsible for his own destiny. You chose self-loathing and blood lust.”

    Taran Cù Sìth leaps forward, shaking off my hand. Then his claws are at my throat, tightening around it. “The drums of war asked the lesser sons of the realm to obey. I am no coward. The army druids promised to turn me into a great warrior.”

    “Wars not make one great,” I squeak.

    “I was not the warrior I was supposed to be,” he snarls back at me, his eyes blazing with fire.

    “So you wanted more,” I offer.

    “Yes. I wanted it all.”

    “Then you got more than you bargained for,” I croak, my lips turning blue due to lack of oxygen.

    Lights begin to dance in front of my eyes.

    ******************************************************************

    I awake to a bonfire and being tucked up in my blanket again. There is a mug with hot tea next to me.

    Taran Cù Sìth gazes into the flames. “The Star Wars still hangs over this planet like a shadow. What the Ophediea have unleashed remains a deadly legacy. Including war veterans like me.”

    It is a simple matter of fact for all living things, that they have a moment at which they become ´alive.´ That beginning marks the first point on the Circle of Life.

    When the human refugees of a dying Terra came to Draconis they had added more growth to Midi-chlorians.

    The violence that Taran Cù Sìth had inflicted on me earlier on fuelled my own Force abilities.

    Perhaps I have have it in me to kill him off easily, but I am a healer through and through. I can use another weapon against him, a weapon that is less final and more effective: pain. My trembling fingertips reach out and touched his abdomen.

    Waves of agony shoot through his body. He howls. A sound that ripples through me.

    Finally he runs off, the werewolf.

    Only the tea mug with the cooling tea prove to me that he has been more than a product of my imagination.

    *******************************************************************

    (To be continued!)
     
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  8. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Wow, a fascinating encounter and contest of wits and words =D= @};-
     
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  9. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    The plot is really speeding up here, and it's fascinating to see the dynamics that are developing. :cool:

    Svala is a really intriguing character, and it seems too bad that she's out of the story -- at least for now. She doesn't seem to have realized what a fraught situation she'd be getting into working for a household with very extreme beliefs to the contrary of hers. I felt really bad for her losing her necklace when that was a special memory for her, and her gift to Sionnach shows she must really trust her a lot. @};-

    My heart really hurts for Sionnach these last few chapters. Those around her expect her to take one terrible trauma after another and still keep on going as though things were normal. Maybe I missed something, but it seems like she's not older than her late teens? Whatever age, it's a lot to be dealing with, and though she's clearly very much able to find her way the injustice of it all is pretty grim.

    Really didn't care for Laird O’Gradaigh's plan of marrying her like that would somehow fix his cruelty to her. Or everyone else in the castle, for that matter. While I know that probably would have been considered normal in some parts of history and that his baseline personality doesn't seem like a complete sadist, that doesn't make him good husband material. Sionnach deserves way better than that five star fur lined ocean going Sidhe disaster. Though that's not why she leaves, it's kind of a relief to see her out of that environment anyway. At least as long as she doesn't get mauled by a werewolf. I think she's wise to get out of range of Mórag De Vil (if she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will...) and try to find somewhere safer, though such places seem to be few and far between in her world.

    Taran Cù Sìth is quite the person to run into on the road. Speak of weird people encountered on road trips. :p I don't think I'd yet "met" this character, and it was very interesting to see how he and Sionnach clashed here. Something tells me that his transformation wasn't really what he'd expected/been told, and I have a certain amount of sympathy for that. Still a scary and disturbing guy, though, with the hunting down all of his children. (Umm, Mr. Wolfman? Have you considered just... not getting a bunch of women pregnant? Might make your life easier. Less offspring to murder. Well, that got disturbing quickly. Anyway.)
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2018
  10. Darth_Furio

    Darth_Furio Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2008
    Should have used that Force touching ability when Taran was choking her. :p
     
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  11. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    She sure is meeting strange creatures
     
  12. DarthUncle

    DarthUncle Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2005
    Interesting encounter indeed, and great world building without making me think it's exposition! @Kahara does have a point about him perhaps abstaining from creating more offspring; I guess as a wolfman his self-control is a tad suppressed? Otherwise he seems almost decent (compared to some of the being we met so far, surely), but quite volatile.

    Interesting that despite her tendency to avoid conflict, Sionnach here finds that the conflict did strengthen her, including her healing abilities. I wonder if she has to be a bit more cunning, like her namesake (Sionnach is fox in Irish Gaelic isn't it?)
     
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  13. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    Argh, used the wrong tap!
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
  14. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: Your positive way of entering my stories and approaching my characters always feels good.


    @Kahara: I am afraid that Salva will not show up again. Neither in the main story nor in a vignette of mine. Oh wait, I never wrote vignettes for that story line.

    Laird O’Gradaigh got a slightly better character in this story than in the original text. But I agree it is still not okay what he does. Believe me though he is really, really sorry.

    Sionnach is in fact but a teenage girl. Well spotted! But her soul is much older than that.

    Taran just had one love in his life and she died with the birth of her son. Something that Ruadhan is still not forgive for.

    Anyway, thanks for such long and wonderful comments. I was so proud finding them, but did not have time to reply earlier on.


    @Darth_Furio: It is a choice to be either a healer or a warrior!



    @earlybird-obi-wan: All this happens in a galaxy far, far away. She also does what every hero/ heroine in a fairy-tale does, leaving her home. You know what Bilbo Baggins said about that, I am sure.

    “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”


    @DarthUncle: You are a clever man. One reason I have married you!


    (Still Chapter 4!)

    *******************************************************************

    Death itself has been close to my bare throat. I should be shaken to the core, but I am only grateful that my baby and I have been spared.

    The lycanthrope, for that is exactly what Taran Cù Sìth is, stays in my mind while I break camp. In this wide and strange galaxy he is the closest thing to family that I have. Yet I have no intention of ever meeting him again. I might not be so lucky next time.

    As quick as my advancing pregnancy allows me, I travel on in a landscape full of evergreen trees.

    Spring turns into summer, summer into autumn.

    My clothing begins to look weary and shabby. Even my woollen blanket turns thin.

    I live off the fruits and plants the forest has to offer. Natural water sources give me the opportunity to wash, do my laundry and get drinking water.

    I stay away from settlements and even the lonely farm houses. The wilderness is my new home. I sleep inside hollow trees or natural caves like a true snake-spawn.

    It is a humble, yet fulfilling life. Mother Nature gives me all that I need to survive. The Unifying Force is with me.

    The silent lucidity in which I live motivates me to talk to the baby even more. I hope it will turn into a balanced and happy being. That he will not be burdened with any unwanted legacy.

    I sing to my child as often as I can. All the lullabies that I remember my granny ever singing to me. And I tell him all the stories that I knew.

    Feeling it my duty as a Force healer I also speak of the Living Force.

    Ears listen to me, not only those of my unborn boy. They only come close at night time, eager not to be spotted or to disturb me by any means. I feel that they mean no harm. They accept my privacy as much as my journey through their realm.

    Like me the Korriganes are free spirited wanderers who travel across the surface of Draconis. They too will go through great length to accomplish their goals. Some of them had established a permanent home in Ceilonwyn, the large forest grounds of the Northern Hemisphere. Once they have been true Elves of pure blood, but the war has done dreadful things to them. In a way, Taran Cù Sìth is one of them.

    Most Korriganes are entirely transformed and therefore do not meet the high standards of Elfin beauty any longer. It is rumoured that their ranks grow through abandoned babies. Their war injuries make them infertile. I cannot tell. Certainly, they are shy folk, knowing about the madness that war can bring with it. To be hunted down for fun and be tortured is also something that most of them have experienced.

    The forest grounds are large enough that our paths need not cross. Now and then I find a pile of nuts for me. One time even new moccasins, soft hand-made leather walkers, and a new dress.

    I thank them loudly and with all my heart, but this is all communication that occurs between us.

    ********************************************************************

    One golden autumn afternoon I reach the Vallum Ventii, where the midwinter castle of the royal House of Tjiehenet lay. I decide to stay as far away from the castle grounds as possible and make my way North.

    Then winter comes.

    It is the most severe winter ever.

    Despite the Force I could have died, had the human not found me. The taste of hot chicken soup is still in my mouth when the sledge moves on. Happily, I cuddle myself deeper into the mountain goatskin, which is thick and white.

    The Unifying Force is with me once more. I first had thought that a pack of wolves wanted to attack me, but then I recognize a well-behaved team of malamutes. Of course the animals look very much like their wilder cousins. Their pelt has black-white markings and their irises are of a ghostly blue.

    The owner of the eight husky is a sturdy human called Malm. Not only has he the chest of a grizzly bear, but the arms as well. One can clearly recognize him as an Udaler, one of the clear-blooded humans of the North. Their men wear their hair at shoulder length like Elves. The long beards are woven into plaits.

    I am too weak to protest when Malm dresses me in the fashion of his people: woollen undergarments, boon-dockers with fleece inlay and a heavy capes with a fur edge. But it feels so good and warm being dressed that way, that I quickly put away any thought of complaining anyway.

    Malm even bathes my stiff body in hot sulphur springs and smears it with milk-fat lotion.

    Afterwards, the sledge hurtles over the rim landscape again with me as a passanger.

    The Vallum Ventii range over a distance of one thousand five hundred miles. A number that is only half as impressive as their sight. The mountain tops look like sleeping giants, covered by ice and snow.

    During the journey I am able to learn more about my gentle saviour.

    Malm is the blacksmith of the royal family. He has taken some time off for the midwinter feast, the days between the winter solstice and the Feast of Imbolc.

    The young god queen, freshly married to an off-word senator, neglects the castle since the death of her sister Adamah. The staff, mostly locals, are not required to be on duty.

    Recently, Malm has decided to visit his sister-in-law and her four children. Since last winter, when she became a widow, he has been helping her out a lot.

    A bag filled with wooden toys lies inside the cargo area of the large sledge. Last night I have been allowed a peak at the presents: a wooden sword for the eldest, a little farm house with animals for the middle sons and a rocking horse for the youngest.

    It makes me entirely grateful to have ended up in the right company.

    ********************************************************************

    I do not spot the long-house until the sledge stops right in front of it. After all my time alone in the wilderness, my eyes suck in every detail of my new surroundings. In the past it had not mattered to me how people dressed and how they looked. I will have to blend in properly though, to assure my child a better future.

    The building looks exactly like its little toy replica. The walls are made out of spruce and there are no windows at all. Dark fumes rise lazily from the square stone chimney. The door is opened and a beam of light falls on the snow.

    “Hej, Malm! Hur har du det?” somebody calls.

    A woman with a white headscarf stands in the door-frame. Two thick plaits of red hair are dangling down her chest. She is dressed in an ankle long dress, made out of dark green wool. Over the dress she wears a cotton apron, which is embellished with ornaments. A necklace of amethystine is hanging around her long neck.

    I shiver a little when I look the woman straight into her almond-shaped eyes. She is dressed as a female Udaler, but she is a Daoine Sidhe. And even more problematic for me: Malm´s sister-in-law is a bean feasa, a servant of the White Goddess Darach.

    ********************************************************************

    I do not recall how long we stand in the cold, the three of us. Her gaze rests on me sternly and controlled. Suddenly, the woman moves and gives me her Draconian kiss of greeting.

    “Mise Draíocht! Fáilte go teach seo, Sionnach O'Conghaile,” she speaks with surprising cordiality. I am Draíocht. Welcome, Sionnach O'Conghaile.

    She knows who and what I am. Yet, she truly welcomes me to her home and hearth.

    Before I can reply three boys, all blessed with the flaming hair, run out of the house. They pay me no heed, and all three start talking to Malm in their mother tongue. At the same time.

    „Åh!“ laughs the royal blacksmith. He gently patts their heads.

    Draíocht uses the moment to drag me inside the house. “You are the one who brought bring the entire order into an uproar.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “Due to you the god queen broke with the reverend mother and married the senator.”

    “I had not been aware that I caused both religious and political uproar.”

    Draíocht grins at me. “Every member of the Tjiehenet family has that potential. Always in motion the future is. And the serpent-spawn is the future of this galaxy. The Legacy of the Force.”

    “But so are the children of the Skywalker,” I protest weakly, thinking about Dealg, the wanderer.

    Her almond shaped eyes turn into slits. She gazes at me for a while and then replies with a smug face, “You have come to the right place then. I am a heretic like you are, dear cousin.”

    “Cousin?”

    “Not by blood. But my great-aunt took you in, Sionnach, and that makes us family, I would say. My clan is O'Conghaile.”

    ********************************************************************


    (To be continued!)
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
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  15. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Wonderful encounter with someone sympathetic and helpful
     
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  16. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    she has now a nice home and a friend
     
  17. DarthUncle

    DarthUncle Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2005
    wow, she's quite a wanderer, and a child of nature (well, yeah, part of a union of the force and the viewable, touchable world I guess). And then she meets a granddaughter of her old Nan? It's a bit of a fairytale, but she (you?) make me go with the flow and will her to have some good fortune. Malm is a good guy too, giving her clothes, and his nieces,nephews some gifts - wait, was he wearing red with white fur, and underway from the local north pole? Because he totally could be :) I think Sionnach could be in a worse spot than there when her baby comes (getting help from misformed beings who can't have children, even very nice ones, seems not quite ideal).

    Wait, what? Sionnach is responsible for Arcana falling in love with Agathos? Sweet!
    Oh, and
    - and you wrote that well before you knew Game of Thrones existed, let alone that the Starks' Winter was coming (I guess otherwise it'd be written that way ;)
     
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  18. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: The dark and the light side of the Force, always engaged in an eternal dance. Things are always in a flow.



    @earlybird-obi-wan: This is a respectful bow to all my friends and acquaintances who make me feel belonging somewhere.



    @DarthUncle: Thanks that you buy everything from me, when it is about story telling. Otherwise you are a stern observer. Especially when ice cream packages disappear from the deep freeze... sigh! You are my Agatha Christie. Let´s watch the movie now, shall we?

    Well, after this wee update, that @Kahara & @Cowgirl Jedi 1701 might find, too:


    (Still Chapter 4!)

    *********************************************************************

    It is like coming home. After just a couple of hours it feels as if I have always been with the disgraced bean feasa and her little family. Her deceased human husband Mössa has built the long-house together with his five brothers. He had wanted to create a refuge from the strong blizzards that occur in this region of the planet.

    Outside, the storm gets more and more agitated, howling with a madness that reminds me of Taran Cù Sìth. But I am safe from the werewolf and safe from all other perils that were out there.

    Dian O'Gradaigh.

    The abbess Mórag MagUidhir

    My aunt, the god queen Arcānā Tamisra Tjiehenet.

    Draíocht lies next to me, radiating heat like a warm water bottle. She mutters something in Tale that is not directed at me, „Jag älskar dig!“

    (A wink at @CaraJinn !)


    In another corner of the house Malm snores in the guest bed. It sounds like he wants to cut down Ceilonwyn all by himself.

    The breath of the four children is low, yet healthy.

    The animals in the stable next door make no sounds at all, but I know they are as awake as I am.

    A new life has begun for me and my son. I will call him Éibhear, which means granite in the language of the Daoine Side. His soul name will be Amhantar, lee side. The best thing is: he will be mine alone. Nobody, not even his father, will be able to make claims on him.

    ********************************************************************

    For building their houses, Udalers use the material they found in their direct environment. The endless forest grounds of Ceilonwyn offer wood supplies for Draíocht's household that will last until the end of time itself.

    It is lovely being a guest in such a rustic home. After my time in the wilderness it is a sheer luxury.

    The door-frame of the entrance door is adorned with protective runes, carved deeply into the wood.

    In the entrance hall, two iron shields are exposed, artistically painted with the traditional ornaments of the Northern people.

    A thick rope, being used as a laundry line, reaches from one end of the housing space to the other. Somehow it ends up always being loaded with wet children’s clothing and nappies.

    The cooking area with its hearth fire is centrally placed, as is the eating table.

    Storage room is offered by several massive chests and some planks in a separate pantry.

    The four beds are inside alcoves with beautiful folding doors.

    There is also a stable at the very edge of the hall, housing two cows, one goat, five sheep and three chickens.

    The only thing that is outside is the toilet, a so-called 'plum blossom'.

    ********************************************************************

    “You have come a far way, lass,” Draíocht addresses me the next morning straight after breakfast.

    It is just the two of us left at the table. Malm is outside stoking up the wood supplies. The three boys are busy in the stables and the baby girl is asleep in her cradle.

    I scratch the rest of the porridge out of my pottery bowl, trying hard not to look too anxious. The aura of my host is slightly unstable. It shifts from dark colours to bright ones rather easily. Yet there is no outburst of the dark side. She is surprisingly constant in her instability.

    “I imagined a clone to look more dangerous and distorted,” Draíocht moves on. “Especially you, the purest product of necromancy. But you do not look like a zombie.”

    I am looking at my fingernails intensely, too embarrassed to face her. To get compared with a flesh-eating undead is somewhat of an insult. I am a vegetarian through and through. No hunger for humanoid flesh, and especially for brains, possesses me.

    “The scientists of the Ophidea got to the bottom of dark magical knowledge and found some rather important medical secrets, still unknown to the rest of the universe. They gained real power with it, rather than gestures of ceremony.”

    Draíocht touches on a very sensitive subject. I admire and dislike her at the same time for her frankness. Unlike the holocron that I had once possessed, she speaks about matters unasked. I am not sure how to stop her without being impolite. She is a being with her own free will. Perhaps this has triggered her downfall within the Order of the beanmna feasa.

    “It is the darkest, most sinister profession among the royal scientists. It requires them to use more of the dark side than a Force user normally has access to: to summon the dead, to steal health from corpses and essentially use death derived abilities to one's own advantage. Or to create new life from dead material, as it happened in your case.” Draíocht falls silent for some heartbeats before she speaks again. “I sometimes ask myself what it is they really do on the Holy Isle of Cunabula. There are rumours that the diseased god queens never leave their bodies and still give council to the living.”

    I know that to be true. There has been disembodied voices in the laboratory, speaking with the young god queen and her minions. They had come from the Netherworld of the Force.

    “It is believed that if a Force user's body perished after a failed attempt at transferring essence, the user's life energy is lost and dispersed in Chaos.” Draíocht puts her hands on top of mine. “For some reason they did the right things when creating you. You are beautiful.”

    I turn red. My entire head feels like being on fire.

    To my surprise Draíocht kisses my forehead. “Did you know that you are legend among the Order of the beanmna feasa?”

    I shake my head silently, utterly embarrassed now. To have so much attention does not feel comfortable at all. I dearly hope that nobody is able to track me down to this very doorstep. For I had arrived here only yesterday and do not feel like leaving again to soon.

    “To defeat the Reverend Mother is a very courageous thing to do. Just three women ever dared: Arcānā, me and you.” Draíocht sniggers. “It is a miracle that the two of us are alive, thank the Force.”

    Without asking me, she pulls us another mug of ale.

    “How do you know so much about the Force?”

    My voice sounds so meek and uncertain.

    “That is a long story.” Draíocht looks smug again. A little smile blooms on her face. “If you help me to clean the table and start with the dinner preparations, I might be willing to tell you.”

    ********************************************************************

    (To be continued!)
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2018
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  19. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Wow, lots of intriguing details of the scene and culture which have a very Celtic feel. :cool: And Sionnach's discomfort over such sensitive topics -- I can well believe she wants to "change the subject" :p
     
  20. Darth_Furio

    Darth_Furio Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2008
    “It is believed that if a Force user's body perished after a failed attempt at transferring essence, the user's life energy is lost and dispersed in Chaos.”

    This brought be back to the Darth Bane Dynasty of Evil novel when he tried to do the essence transfer into his apprentice Darth Zannah. It's a fun conversation and @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha is right. The descriptions are great
     
  21. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: I am glad that you enjoy yourself so much and can feel the love in the air. @};-


    @Darth_Furio: This was actually one of my very sources. O:)That novel was very good.
     
  22. DarthUncle

    DarthUncle Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2005
    That sharp, self conscious but brave evaluation of a person, situation, is what Sionnach does very well; great update, lots of new worldbuilding (hm, so Moraig has lost someone, she's not unbeatable then, even if D(how do I spell that [face_dunno]) seems quite a bit damaged from the experience; she seems like a good friend and like a home to Sionnach.
     
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  23. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Inspiration from Castlefest;) You sure build a world
     
  24. Cowgirl Jedi 1701

    Cowgirl Jedi 1701 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2016
    I saw the word "runes", and immediately thought of Thor and Loki. Mostly Loki. I think I'm in love with him.
     
  25. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    @DarthUncle, @earlybird-obi-wan & @Cowgirl Jedi 1701, thanks for sticking around and suffering my grammar mistakes together with @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha.

    And thanks for @Kahara for her likes.

    Because I will be away for a while with my mother and leave my husband at home, I will not be back until the middle of July. This is why I update now:


    (Still Chapter 4)

    ***************************************************************************

    While her boys are ice-fishing at a nearby lake with Malm, Draíocht and I peel potatoes.

    The Udalers eat two main meals a day, one of which usually consists of some kind of meal or porridge. Despite her Elfin origins Draíocht keeps to this tradition. The mainstay of everyday eating, she has told me, is the big kettle that hangs above the open hearth. That stew contains whatever vegetables and meat are available, and is added to day by day.

    “You are very good with this. Judging by your hands you are a very experienced cook.”

    I nod at the red haired Elfin woman, for there is no need to hide that aspect of my past from her. “I indeed worked in the kitchen of a castle for a couple of years.”

    Suddenly, Draíocht takes hold of my chin. “Now I understand. First it did not make sense. You are the lass that her cousin has been looking for.”

    I drop my knife.

    “You cannot stay here for long, Sionnach. I am still on, lets call it, probation. The Reverend Mother sends members of the order now and then to see if I commit any further crimes.”

    I sink down on the bench.

    “Do not worry! I do not expect any visitor until spring time. Stay here until then. We will find a solution.” Draíocht joins me on the bench, the bowl with the potatoes still resting in her lap.

    “I endanger you and the children.”

    “Nonsense! It is the other way around. I am poison for you.” Draíocht puts the bowl aside. “There are different types of beanmna feasa. I am one of those who prosecuted alleged heretics. First of all come the seekers, who find traces of disbelief in rather delicate ways. Then there are the questioners who torture in unimaginable ways to make the heretics admit to their crimes in the open. I have mutilated and killed hundreds of Elves before Mössa stepped into my life. He was an assassin that the assembly of the Northern chieftains sent, after I exercised my skills on some unfortunate human Force sensitives.”

    With an open mouth I stare at the mother of four. It is hard for me to imagine her torturing folk for their believes and abilities. Draíocht looks like an ordinary housewife whose realm includes the cookery pot, the laundry bowl and the sewing box. Her four-fingered hands, common for a true blooded Daoine Side, are so delicate. Yet they have done horrible deeds.
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2018
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