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At least she knew this, and Ruj'wyra knew this was something Maijah had to learn on her own as she had just lost a support source in her life. She was a strong one, that much he knew. But she didn't have to keep doing it alone, and he hoped she knew that.
Borrowed @pocketninja-ffxiv's bun for this silly little cheerup doodle! It's been a lot of fun making some Shetona lore and stories with Dawntrail's release! Get 'em, cowbuns!
To the untrained eye her study had become a disorganized mess. A collection of mechanical contraptions and spare parts spilled across the desk of her terminal. Books lay splayed open, scattered on nearly every available surface as though the reader had stepped away for a moment. Maybe to write a note or sketch a quick diagram in one of several notebooks that were piled haphazardly across her writing desk.
But to Aislinn there was order in this chaos. She knew the location and title of every book scattershot around the study, the purpose of every mechanism she had pulled from her workshop. She was working, thinking, racking her mind to try and make any of this problem with Lewra and the other seemingly lifeless bodies make sense. She barely ate, slept in short fits when she’d succumb for a bell or two at her desk and generally had no time for anyone in Heartwood outside of those that needed her attention in the clinic.
A planning meeting had been called of which she did not attend. She’d been around long enough to know how “planning” meetings went when Heartwood’s group of mercenaries got together. They never met a meeting they couldn’t turn into an opportunity to bicker and argue. She may as well go outside and wander in ever-maddening circles. Instead, she was in her study digging through her shelves and cabinets of spare parts she kept on hand for Sergius. Finally she found it. The aether signature creator.
The inconvenient truth was that everything that had been happening was creeping up on Aislinn like a rising tide. Lewra. The Kugane job. Sterling. Stark Oak. Yami had said to let her anger out but when had that ever in her life done her one lick of good? Anger didn’t bring Lewra back. It didn’t untangle her complicated feelings over watching Sterling bleed out in the dirt. It did nothing to the knowledge that she could do no more for Stark Oak than hope the monks followed through on their promise or the low grade anxiety that was ever present when Locke was away on a voyage, wondering if the last time she saw him would end up being the last time. Because one day, it would be.
No. Anger changed nothing. All her life it had been a luxury she couldn’t afford. So instead, she worked. She worked until all these thoughts became nothing but background noise. Until there was just her and a problem to be solved.
She powered up the signature creator, letting the mock aether stabilize and then she opened her senses. The signature wasn’t a perfect replica. If she focused on it she could pick out the wrongness, the sour, artificial note, but for most applications it would do the job of fooling anyone but the extremely versed and aetherically sensitive.
She had no idea if this would end up being of any use to her, Yami or Tynos but in her experience it was better to be prepared than to find yourself wishing for something you didn’t have.
She turned away from the row of cabinets and bumped against a work table. Hard enough to jostle a round sphere decorated in Starlight wrapping paper. A gift from Lewra. It rolled until it hit a book and stopped. Guilt washed over Aislinn. Yami had given it to her days ago and she hadn’t brought herself to open it. She had missed the family Starlight gathering, off on the Kugane business. It wasn’t something she could have explained in a note. Or in person. Or…she just couldn’t. So she just sent her regrets. That life wouldn’t intrude on this one and with any luck it was behind her for good now, anyroads.
She set the signature creator down and picked up the sphere. It was heavy and solid, whatever it was. Slowly, she unpeeled the wrapping to expose a brass metallic sphere. She didn’t know what else she was expecting, after all the wrapping had done little to hide the shape of the object underneath. Etched across the interlocking plates of the sphere’s surface were geometric designs not unlike constellations but no matter how she looked at it, its purpose eluded her. Lewra had to know one of the only ways to stop the woman she loved like a daughter in her tracks was to present her with a puzzle.
Sidetracked by this new development Aislinn ran her hands over the sphere, testing the interlocking plates as she slowly made her way to the couch and sank down to sit and solve this new problem. Something about it soothed the frazzled edges of her tired mind.
Time slipped away like water through cupped hands as she sat there on the couch, head bent over the sphere in her lap, her deft fingers and agile mind moving in concert over the sphere’s puzzle until all at once with a satisfying click two things happened. Green aether pulsed out of the sphere in a rush and a panel popped open, revealing a note that had been tucked inside. Still images formed from the aether in the air around the sphere. A multitude of ghostly projections, hovering in place.
'To my oldest,
Happy Starlight, and I hope you enjoyed the puzzle to get to your gift. Keep it close for when those dark times come to keep you going, and don't worry, I'll teach you how to add more memories to your aetherical album when you're ready so you can have more of you and Locke. I only had one to start it out. I have a feeling you're wondering how this works, I'll go over that with you don't worry. Other family members have one as well, and memories can be exchanged to add to your own album.
You may not be mine by blood but I'll always love you, and be so proud of you like you're my own.
Love, Mom’
Reaching out, Aislinn touched one of the images and at once it came to life. A memory. Lewra’s memories.
Their first meeting. Her first medical lesson. The way Lewra had patiently taken her alarmingly unscrupulous and criminal alchemical knowledge and honed it against her own Sharlayan practices. The moments Aislinn opened up to Lewra. Talks over tea and baklava. Aislinn introducing her to Locke for the first time. She had gently teased her all while overjoyed by the casual way he could reach for Aislinn’s hand, understanding it for the feat it was. All of it. It was all here.
These were shared experiences but as seen from Lewra’s perspective. Memory was not so much a camera as a filter. The particulars it held on to was nothing compared to what bled through.
She hugged the sphere tight against her body. As though it could fill the gaping hollow that had been carved from Aislinn’s chest. Too much. The grief and very real possibility that she may never speak to Lewra again threatened to drown her and she struggled to keep her head above water. Her searching hand dove into the pocket of her coat, wrapping tight around Yami’s crystal she found there. For when it all became too much, the Seeker had said. And now the crystal siphoned the waves of emotions before they could buffet Aislinn to even darker depths. A burden shared.
Aislinn was not good with words. The ones she had were unwieldy tools improperly calibrated for the swirling riptide inside her. Anger was too small a word. Grief, too vague. Sadness was an insipid and reductive term. But Yami knew that. Hence the crystal. Through that tether Aislinn’s outward silence was shown for what Lewra always understood it to be, a barrier to be navigated and nothing more. She felt drained and yet her whole rib cage ached, her heart banging around like it was angrily trying to find a way out of her chest. Fiercely, savagely reminding her in case she had forgotten;
She had to get up. She had to get up, there was work to do.
Why wasn't she waking up? Mom you need to wake up!
N'yami shook her mother's lifeless body she held in her arms, G'lewra wasn't responding to anything. The two were enjoying the fresh air outside while they waited for the group to return. Telling stories of how the Synch kids were growing up do fast.
All while doing this N'yami could feel the tug on her mothers aether increasing, Yami’s own aether battling with the dark entity that had latched on to the Scholar a couple moons ago. Even with how much she was battling to keep her mother's aether within her body it felt like Yami was grasping at smoke, and all she could do was watch as it slipped between her fingers.
And then it happened.
Without warning G'lewra collapsed, and N'yami had been quick enough to catch her mother before she hit the ground.
“No….nonononono! MOM!! They're comin’ back! Dad's comin’ back to help! He always does! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME!!”
N’yami wasn't a healer, she didn't know how to fix this. She's just a damn blacksmith. Learning healing was pointless in her eyes because G’lewra was always around to patch her up. But now she was gone.
The Seeker's breathing picked up as she felt the swirls of emotions erupt from her dark aether, red aether flickered around her while her ruby gaze gave off an ominous glow. A blood curdling howl escaped her lungs as he shouted towards the sky as the emotions took over, the pulses of aether coming off the Dark Knight becoming stronger with each passing moment.
She needed help. Dad knew what to do with this sort of thing, Tynos wasn't a master of aetherical manipulation for nothing. N'yami fumbled with her linkpearl for a moment then let it spring to life.
"I NEED THE OLD MAN NOW!" N'yami's panicked voice shouted over the linkpearl. She wasn't able to steady her breathing, quick and hurried breaths as her body was heading into a panic attack. "She's gone!” And with a final attempt she tried calling to her mother again. “WAKE UP DAMNIT! MMMOOOOMMM!" Her breathing became more panicked as she tried to think of who else was there that could help. Aislinn. "LINN!" Crying out to the hyur like a younger sibling that needed protection.
With the last effort, N'yami clicked off the linkpearl as she cried over G'lewra's form, clutching to the lifeless body as if her mothers body would slip away from her just as the aether did.
“You know how to fix this.”
She tried to drown out the voice in her head, the voice that always came to life when it was a fight or flight situation. N'yami’s body didn't understand the meaning of flight, and so this voice always came around to encourage the Seeker to keep fighting. No matter what.
Looking up with tear stained cheeks N'yami saw an image of herself standing in front of her clad in armor that put the shadows to shame. Spikes jutting out in random directions, and the red aether made cracks along the armor to empower it.
“There's one right here, and she's the cause of all this, right? Actions have consequences.”
Xha.
A low growl rumbled through N'yami while her grip on G'lewra's body tightened while thinking about the ex cultist.
“They're allowing her to walk freely, and yet we still lost someone. She took mom away from us. It's her fault. You FOUGHT with everything to keep her here and NOW SHE'S GONE BECAUSE OF THESE CULTISTS! They don't get to live!!!”
The more the aether spoke to N'yami made the glow in her eyes brighter, with so much emotions you'd expect to see those feelings flooding her ruby orbs but they were hollow. So empty but yet so dangerous to look at. The look of a killer, and the voice in her head was winning. There was no one there to calm the Dark Knight. Usually she did so well to contain these emotions, use them to protect those she loves. But now one of them was gone, and she blamed herself for it.
“She needs to die…” Her voice barely above a whisper and sounding as though she had just gargled nails from all the screaming she had been doing.
“We can't lose more.”
“N'yami!”
Looking from the aetherical form the Seeker's attention slowly turned to the new voice, and there she saw Aislinn standing on the other side of the barrier the aetherical formed had put around them to talk.
All she could do was stare blankly at the Hyur before looking back to where her aetherical form once stood. It had vanished just within the few moments of looking away.
N'yami still held G'lewra close, but the barrier started to break into pieces, and it crumbled to the ground before mixing in with aether around her. She could hear Linn talking to her, trying to reach her, but it sounded so muffled. So far away. Her head lazily lulled to look back in Linn's direction but that's when she caught sight of Augusta carrying a limp Tynos back to the Heartwood estate, and she felt her world crumble all over again thinking that not only had she lost her mother but also the man that didn't hesitate to adopt her as his own. So lost in her own world crumbling around her N'yami didn't even notice how Riylli had stood in the background watching Linn talk the Dark Knight down.
“Alright, Yami, listen to me. I know what this looks like. Hells, I know what it feels like. Like the world’s stopped and the earth might as well open up and swallow you because you can’t see how there’s any way forward from here. Anything to stop this from being true.” Aislinn knew grief. Life had given her plenty of opportunities to get acquainted with it. She knew people liked to say it was something you got used to. Like jumping in a cold lake. But damn if it wasn’t a shock every time. “I understand but right now I need you to help me. We have to get her inside. Hey, Tynos’ll be alright. He just went and overdid it out there. But listen. You’ve gotta let me take a look at her. We don’t know for sure what’s happened and until we do we can’t give up on her. Right?”
N'yami tried to focus on Aislinn’s words, trying to hear them over the commotion happening within her mind.
“Ok…” she sounded so defeated but Yami knew she could trust Linn. She had become one of the Seeker's safe places. That rock a younger sibling needed.
Her arms were shaking as she let go of G'lewra so Aislinn could do what was needed. While the medic worked Yami kept out of the way but kept close, without thinking Yami's hand had reached out to hold onto Linn's coat tail. She needed grounding but also wanting to stay out of the way.
That aether.
Looking away from G'lewra and Aislinn for a second, N'yami saw the one she thought was responsible for all this. Xha stood in the yard staring at them, and all the Dark Knight did was stare the Keeper down with a murderous intent before she was pulled from her thoughts. G'lewra needed to be carried inside, and N'yami didn't hesitate to carry her mom inside for Aislinn.
“The hunt can wait, mother needs us.”
Heading inside the clinic, N'yami placed G'lewra on one of the beds closest to Tynos. God's. He looked like shit was the first thing that went through her mind.
She let the medics work, and stood out of the way but close enough to her parents to look after them. N'yami found herself mindlessly following Aislinn around the clinic like a duckling, clutching onto the other woman's coat when the Hyur was at a stand still. She felt so lost. Mind numb and not knowing what to do so she latched to the next family member.
“Oi. There you are, Yami!”
Her head peaked out from behind Aislinn, it paid to have a taller sibling it seems, and there stood her husband Neville. There in all his smiling glory.
“We're having a sleepover in the workshop, and I already got the kits set up. Better hurry before they take yer spot.” He was grinning the whole time while talking to her. N'yami wasn't sure how he was able to smile in such a situation or how he knew he was needed here. But before the Seeker left Linn’s side she pressed her forehead against the medics shoulder in a pathetic attempt of a headbutt, even with G'lewra gone N'yami remembered how her mother told her how Linn had issues with physical touch and to not overwhelm her with them. She wanted to show appreciation but still respect the boundaries.
Slowly making her way towards Neville she paused for a moment before looking back at Linn, and a few tears slid down her cheeks. Not only was Yami's mom gone but so was Linn's.
And N'yami blamed herself for not being able to keep their mom safe.
Here she was falling apart where Linn was probably going through the same thing. How selfish she was being.
Looking back to Neville for a moment she went to back to Linn for a moment. Her hand glowing a bright red, and when she opened her palm a flat stone almost resembling a ruby sat in the Seekers palm. But the aether that swirled within flickered between the colors of red, black, and purple. Almost mimicking a storm.
“For when yer….overwhelmed.” N'yami's gaze shifted around as she tried to explain it in her emotional state. “I can…feel the emotions. A way to vent to me…without words if they become too hard.”
Leaving the stone with Aislinn and returning to her husband's side she let him guide her to the workshop where her children greeted her. Falling into the pile of blankets and pillows N’yami gathered her children close to her, and of course her obsidian carbuncle Whackara that was a gift to her from her mother curled on top of her chest for pressure therapy. Neville had curled around his family to keep them close, he knew this was something N’yami needed. Thankful their wedding bands kept them connected aetherically.
It took N’yami awhile to fall asleep, everytime she closed her eyes all she could see was her mother falling before her.
“You need to sleep. A hunt awaits for us.” The voice returned to lull the Seeker to sleep. But the voice was right, and there was one thing that crossed N’yami’s thoughts before she finally let sleep take her.
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