Once, she had been blind to the impact of her actions. The repercussions of her actions in other lives. She had been willfully blind, for a time, and blissfully blind prior to that. Self-centered and self-righteous. Self-assured.
Wrong. Hurtful. Selfish.
It wasn’t a happy reflection. But to drop the scales from your eyes and see the truth was a first step on the road to reparations.
The military had once been a bit of a prideful undertaking: she was good at fighting, at destruction, at wounding. But she’d recognized it when her world was tumbled into rubble around her and her power had nearly cost her soul.
Now Tinnaire helped in Loamm. She protected the Dragon Isles from the Sundered Flame and the Primal Incarnates. She fought Djaradin when they attacked the Niffen and she helped rebuild homes. Small victories of a hearth rebuilt brought her more satisfaction than any fel-flame spell ever had. She was so easy to content these days.
It was a victory very quiet.
@daily-writing-challenge
Banagan swung his shield around, slamming it into the shoulder of the djaradin and knocking him off-balance. The paladin pushed forward and toppled his adversary to the ground. Stepping down on the djaradin’s wrist so that he couldn’t bring his weapon up, Banny then stabbed down with his sword and pierced the breast of his enemy. After a few quick spasms, the djaradin ceased moving.
Banny yanked hard on his sword and pulled free before looking around for the next attack. Breathing hard as he scanned the surroundings, the paladin quickly realized there were no more attacks coming. Three djaradin lay dead on the ground and a half dozen Niffen huddled together near an outcropping. Banny brought his sword arm up and carefully bushed the hair and sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. Finally convinced of their moment of respite, he turned and knelt next to the small group.
“Is everyone okay?”
“You have saved us adventurer!” one of the Niffen responded.
“I’m Banny,” he said with a slight grin. “Are any of you hurt?”
“I have received a wound, adventurer, but it is minor,” another one of the Niffen answered. He held out his arm to show a gash on the back of his hand.
“Here, let me look at it.” Banny laid his sword on the ground and took the Niffen’s hand. Closing his eyes, Banagan calmed his breathing and blocked out all the sounds around him. A pale light began to glow around his hand, which quickly spread to cover the Niffen’s as well. The others in the group looked on as the wound closed and began to repair itself. A moment later, the light dissipated and all that was left was a lightly-colored scar on the back of the Niffen’s hand. The others in the group cheered and alternately patted their friend and Banny on the shoulder.
The paladin, aware of his surroundings again, quickly picked up his sword and began scanning the area. Internally he wished that they wouldn’t cheer quite so loudly, but he couldn’t think of any polite way to tell them to quiet down.
“Let’s get out of here,” Banny said as he stood up and shifted his shoulders to try and adjust his armor back into place.
“Yes, adventurer! We must return to Loamm where we can tell everyone of the hordes of enemies you defeated to rescue us!”
“It was only three. Not really a horde.”
“But it was three really big ones,” another of the Niffen offered with a sincere nod.
“Yeah, sure.” Banny chuckled under his breath as he started looking around to get his bearings. “Your city is this way, right?”
“Indeed it is, adventurer.”
“Banny.”
“Indeed it is, adventurer Banny.”
Shaking his head, the paladin chose not to debate things any further. “Stay close to me. We’re going to try and find a way around all of these guys. If we’re lucky, we won’t have to fight any more of them. Then we should be able to catch up with the rest of the rescue party.”
“We won’t need luck, adventurer Banny. You can defend us!” The Niffen all nodded as they gathered behind the paladin.
“Well, I’d like to not test that.”
Banagan led his small group around several boulders and outcroppings, following a narrow, sloping path away from the heat and flames of the enemy’s stronghold. He strained his ears, listening for any sound of something trying to catch up to them or catch them off guard. There was so much noise that it was hard to hear anything beyond the shuffle of the Niffen or the faint ringing of his armor. They were just rounding a broken pillar when Banagan started to relax. He could see the rest of the rescue party ahead in the distance.
They had just arrived in Loamm when word came back of several Niffen having been taking captive from outlying areas. The group, including Banny, had volunteered to find them and bring them back. And that, of course, had brought him to this moment.
Pointing with his sword, he showed the Niffen the others in the distance. The Niffen immediately started to cheer and started running ahead of the paladin.
“Fel!” Banny muttered once he realized what was happening. He started to run after the group when there was a deep roar. From the other side of the pillar, a huge beast leapt out and landed between the Niffen and the paladin. The Niffen, seeing that they were under attack again, squeaked and scattered. The beast turned in their direction and started growling.
“No!” Banny moved forward and stomped on the ground with his right foot. A wave of golden light erupted from the spot where the paladin stomped and spread across the ground until it surrounded him and the beast. The wave of light stung the beast’s paws and it roared in anger as it turned to find the source of its pain. Banny shifted his foot back and brought his shield up to face the beast. “Come on you ugly thing. Come and get me!”
The beast roared again and then leapt at the paladin. Banny shifted to his right as the beast jumped. Placing his shoulder behind his shield, he slammed into the flank of the beast as it passed him. Banny followed their momentum and turned along with the beast, bringing his sword arm around and slashing deep into the beast’s back leg.
The beast landed and its back leg gave, making it move awkwardly. It growled again and ran towards Banny. He tried to sidestep it again, but the beast was watching and shifted as it ran. It barreled into Banny’s shield and forced him back. He kept his feet underneath him, but the weight of the beast caused him to slide backwards across the ground. It tried to reach its paws around the shield to swipe at Banny, but he managed to dodge the attacks. Then his heel caught on a rock sticking up from the ground. The paladin lost his balance and fell to the ground on his back.
The beast pounced and pressed down on him. Banny struggled to keep his shield between them as the beast continued to paw at it. Then he heard shouts and rocks started raining down on them. One of the rocks caught the beast on the side of its head. It growled and turned its head to look at what had caused it new pain. With the distraction, Banny twisted his sword around and stabbed beneath his shield. He felt his blade pierce the beast and it howled and shuddered before rolling off to the side. Banagan twisted in the opposite direction to gain some space and watched at the beast struggled to stand. Before it could regain itself, Banny rushed forward and stabbed again in the neck, driving his blade deep into the beast. It spasmed and then rolled into its side and stopped moving.
Pulling his blade free, Banny spun around again and looked for more attackers. Instead, all he saw were the Niffen running back to him, dropping the rocks that they had picked up to pelt the beast with. They gathered around the paladin and cheered, but Banny was breathing too hard to tell them to quiet down. Quickly counting the group, he then spread his arms and started to usher the group back down the path. The Niffen were excited and spoke of what they had just witnessed while the paladin spent his time nervously scanning the area for the next attack. Finally, they reached the rest of the rescue party. There were several Drakthyr as well as a couple of dwarves and another human standing among several dozen more Niffen.
The group that Banny had been escorting broke away from him and joined the others. They began talking in great detail about the armies that their friend had defeated to save them.
“Armies?” Banagan’s Drakthyr friend asked as he stepped to the paladin’s side.
“More like three,” Banny answered as his breathing finally began to slow down. “And a felbeast, too I guess. Not nearly as dangerous as they’re making it sound.”
“You did a great thing, young one.”
“I just did what I had to,” Banny said with a shrug. “You guys had a harder time dealing with that encampment.”
“Do not be blind to what you have accomplished. To you, it may have been a small act. But to them,” the Drakthyr said as he pointed towards the group of Niffen, “to them you have done something great.”
“And then,” one of the Niffen said loudly, “Adventurer Banny stopped the beast. He caused the ground to sparkle! It was like the stars had fallen and were attacking it!”
“Maybe,” Banny said to his friend with a slight grin.
“Remember, young one. Important deeds often have modest beginnings.”
// Takes place after few weeks following the arrival of mortals to the Dragon Isles.
Neria growled in anger as she left the Obsidian Throne behind. Dropping down from the platform's edge she shifted mid-air, wings stretched to their full span to carry her away as fast as possible.
Of course it was a fool's errand, trying to convince her stubborn mule of a father and that egoistic brat to work together instead of against each other. They were blinded by the lure of power, the both of them. If even she, loner and recluse, could see it clearly, how could the rest of her flight not?
The scarred black soared above the land, towards Valdrakken. The forges of the city were one of the places that could calm her down, something she solely needed at the moment. Just as she reached the border of Thaldraszus, Neria sighed and veered away in a gentle curve towards the Ruby Life Pools.
She landed in a quiet corner, taking on her mortal guise once again. While losing herself in blacksmithing would have taken her mind off the issue, it would only be a temporary solution. Neria needed something else, and she hoped to find it here instead.
As odd as a black spending time in the red flight's territory still was, her scarred form only earned a few cursory glances before the reds lost interest in her arrival. It was far from the first time, after all. She took a seat in the shade of a tree near where the black dragon eggs were guarded and sighed.
"Ahh. Brooding again, Neria?"
An unexpected but familiar voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"And what if I am, Kaydestrasz? Are you going to demand me to leave, like you did the first time?" The black growled back, arms crossed over her chestplate.
"Titan's help me, far from it. It would be a futile attempt anyway, and I've learned my lesson. May I sit with you?" The red dragon wore a form similar to that of a human, his visage still showing some of his draconic traits, not dissimilar to her own.
Neria nodded with a defeated huff, closing her eyes. As infuriating Kayden could be, he was still one of the first reds who accepted her presence and made actual effort to get to know her better.
The silence stretched, only to be broken by Kayden in the end.
"So... what's this about, this time?"
Neria glared at him for a bit before rubbing at her temples with a gauntlet.
"Those two are at it again, and are even involving more and more of the mortals to assist them! How can they not see that internal strife is the last thing we need?! I tried to talk sense to get a compromise, but it was a waste of my time!" She hissed, but kept her voice down.
"If the black flight has any hopes to weather this storm, we need to be united... like you reds." The admission hurt, but the truth usually did.
"I think... It's not a waste of your time. I think they only focus on what there is to gain, while you also see how much there is to lose. How about instead of focusing on trying to change their view completely, you try to broaden it instead little by little?" He offered after pondering for a few minutes.
"Also, there must be others there who share your views. I know you hate being social - you barely tolerate my amicable self -, but try to find them. Many voices together are far louder than one, and a good leader also knows when to listen. Just don't give up and- what?" He scratched the back of his neck at the odd look she was giving him.
"Nothing. You just surprised me, is all." Neria huffed in reply and turned away before adding a short "Thanks."
“The tailor is coming at fourteen bells, ma’am, you may want to get out of bed and make yourself a little more presentable.”
Keranna’s directive made Fiorenze pick her head up from where she’d been unmoving, face down in her pillows, for the last few hours — something she immediately regretted as her head throbbed, wine hangover still in full force, “What?”
There was no reason for the tailor to come by, at least, no reason that she knew of.
“To fit you for Miss Ana’diel’s gallery later this week,” her personal assistant busied herself with immediately re-arranging the pillows so the former Lady couldn’t faceplant right back into them.
Fiorenze immediately wanted to grouse, and she managed to do exactly that while managing to sit up, slowly, “You can cancel, I’m not going.”
“Of course you are, don’t be ridiculous, she asked after you at Fancy Cakes the other night,” the older elven woman grabbed Fio’s lounging robe off the floor and brought it up to her nose to sniff before frowning and tucking it under her arm, “This is the best chance you will have of controlling the narrative, darling. Seize it.”
Gods, she didn’t want to. None of that sounded appealing at all. Keranna shoved a clean day robe and a fresh chemise into her arms while she dithered.
“You’re blinded by grief about it all, I know, but I am right. You are still the Arch Magistrix, there will be other nobles there expecting that you will have vanished in shame. Prove them wrong,” her former governess cupped her cheek before tipping her head toward the bathroom, “and wash up. You smell like wine.”
Fiorenze blinked a couple of times, a little overwhelmed by the directness of it all, “What time is it now?”
“Thirteen thirty. Miss Tel’vaiel’s lawyers sent your percentage of the Estate by earlier as well, it’s most of Halandir’s mother’s jewelry and some of the pieces that were made specifically for you, your portraits, and twenty-five percent of the sale of the land back to the Quel’thalas government, so there’s plenty of accessories to still choose from,” Keranna’s voice carried a joyful lilt that made her want to heave.
Or that was the hangover.
Either way, Keranna had left her no room to wait, and she probably wasn’t wrong.
Fio reached up to rake both of her hands through her mess of curls before huffing quietly, “I suppose you have thoughts on what I should wear, too?”
Keranna smiled at her and nodded, “Of course. Something water themed; it's the strongest of all the options.”
The sun rises and night falls away as Albert awoke on the beach, naked but surprisingly not afraid. He'd been wiser than the last time. Or so he planned by being alone. Overcoming this hurtle might not be so much a trouble on the island. The sand between his cheeks was another story.
Shaking and weak hands would slowly push him to sit up to look out across the now red ocean, thankfully from the sun. It was beautiful how it shimmered and shone as an unending mirror reflecting back the blue lightening sky above. His sigh of relief fell into a ragged sob as he rested his face in his hands.
He wasn't sure if he fell asleep from the previous night or his own sobs, but when Albert opened his eyes the sun had risen even more to heat up the sand as much as his hot skin. A sunburn was likely inevitable but it beat what he feared as he tried to push himself up to stand.
The beach met him faster with a soft thump and grunt. Albert found himself laughing a bit as he struggled to get up, though the hot grains of white sand were now burning him from chest to between his legs making it all the more necessary to reach the water.
Crawling forward, Albert would eventually feel the cooler sand under his hands with a relieved laugh as he continued to crawl forward as the tide grabbed him and helped pull him into her embrace. The blue and white foam was relished as he felt the salt blast him in the face and cool water blanket his burning body as it pulled him tight. It'd been a while since he'd felt being held.
Kicking his feet weakly he would ride the tide out further, floating into the deepening shallows as he felt strength flow into his limbs and skin from the water. The ocean always had that effect on him even as a kid when he'd been sick or just in a bad a mood. His father would grab him by the scruff and toss him out in to the breaker with a laugh as the waves would settle him. Diving down into the blue water he would feel a moment of jubilation from the memory.
Arms pushing further down as he kicked, until finally reaching the sandy floor to dig and claw his way through the silt. The silky texture was intoxicating to his nerve damaged tips and hands as he felt the wet sand simply disappear between his fingers. Brown clouds of ocean smoke would float ahead of him while the salt did it's damnedest to eat away at his eyes, sucking the hydration from them with a painful burn. Bare feet would twist and plant before propelling him back up to break the surface of the sea.
Sputtering and coughing as he treaded water to stay afloat his hands would quickly reach to clear the blindness from as he blinked away the salt and water. His vision clearing as best it could as he spun about to make sure he could see the beach still. The last thing he wanted was to be lost out at sea when he'd finally survived the month.
As the seawater cleared from his eyes, Albert blinked harder and squinted focusing away from the beach. There was a break on the surface. Something different from the rising and falling waves as he kicked to stay afloat.
"The hell is that?" It was stupid to talk out loud, but everyone had to know they still had a voice at times. Squinting harder and wiping at his eyes again, he would spit a mouthful of arriving wave out as he tried to pinpoint what it was. Probably just a floating pile of seaweed or algae. But then he could have sworn it was moving just like him in it's fight to stay above the waves.
