I'm finally getting around to playing EoD (which I'll detail in another post), so have Commander Tiffany's new and updated outfit!
Those gloves are the Leystone Vambraces, which have a soft ley-line-magic aura... which matches Aurene. I consider that to be traces of Aurene's magic due to the Champion bond.
See how much she looks like a half-sylvari?? She can't actually grow leaves on herself (sadly), but the Twilight Arbor dungeon armors aren't race-limited so I assume they canonically can be worn by other races. Oh and I believe those shoulderpads are a Soulbeast thing? I forgot to check.
Commander here just likes attuning to her heritage. And confusing people. Don't forget that (not shown in this image) she has lines in her would-be sylvari pattern all across her face (and hands... and any other visible skin, which is none in this case. Old habits die hard.)
Also notice her gloves! (again) Her left hand is more covered... this is because, since every character in-game ever is right-handed, her left hand is what holds the shaft of her longbow in place while her right hand draws the string to shoot. When she lets go, the string can snap back and hurt her off-hand... hence the protection.
However, since I'm a lefty and I generally imagine Tiffany Commander as a lefty (although I like my headcanon that lefthandedness Does Not Exist in Tyria) I can also pretend that means her left hand is more protected so it can be in on the action. Like, you know, punching someone in the face. Even though that's not how she fights. Oh well. A girl can dream.
(Initial concept of EoD outfit below)
Now, this was not originally the outfit I intended for EoD! My above-all-and-preferred outfit would have been this (...perhaps without the cape):
Because those are very Aurene-like headpiece and hands, and a rather vague vibe of Aurene through the whole outfit, what with the crystals, AND this outfit still looks sylvan. (But the Aurene pieces (and cape, I think) take gems and for the rest of the outfit I... haven't done the necessary work.
Ok so - it always slightly bugs me whenever people write about sylvari getting married? Just because
- they had no contact with other races until Malomedies was captured by asura
- their first human contact was Waine, who by all accounts was still a teenager
- in Caithe's memories from S2 the sylvari are still really isolated and the Secondborn had been awakening for months at that point
It is not inconceivable - in fact it is highly likely - that the sylvari developed their own cultural flavor for things like falling in love and getting married before they really encountered the human way of doing it. I think Caithe and Faolain, being the oldest canonical sylvari couple we know of (until Wynnet died), would have set the tone of the cultural romance of the sylvari.
The tradition of marriage in real-life human culture has its roots in the Jewish/Christian practice of a lifelong pledge of oneness to each other. Sylvari have no tradition or precedent like that, and their love works differently to begin with.
Sylvari don't fall in love with a person so much as a concept or ideal that two sylvari fall in love with together; so they're kind of pursuing this concept or ideal together and bonding over it. This is why, for a sylvari player, Trammander is not just a fan-pairing, it's almost lore canon. But anyway - ideals and concepts change and you change and your partner changes, so a breakup for sylvari is less brokenhearted - like if your partner changes and you don't you're just kind of like - I thought I knew you? and you know them of course but they're just not your type anymore and you have to find someone else with your ideal or concept, or maybe you also change because of the breakup, or something.
But anyway; so I don't think sylvari 'get married' in any traditional human sense where you pledge faithfulness and the law recognizes you as one entity and divorce is long and painful and often traumatizing and interactions with that person later are just kinda awkward at best. I think when a sylvari says 'I love you' to another sylvari and they say 'I love you' back, that's the sylvari equivalent of marriage, and it can and does end peacefully at any time more often than someone gets angsty over it.
I'm not saying sylvari don't form interpersonal ties; I'm not saying if your partner leaves you just have to find another one to be happy, because it's clearly not. See Tiachren and Ysvelta, from sylvari level 10, and when Ysvelta changed, either Tiachren tries to bring her back from Nightmare because this isn't the person he knew (and Nightmare adds a whole other dimension of complexity) and eventually has to kill her because he still loves who she was and Nightmare kinda cheated and stole her mind, or else he joins her in Nightmare because - I think she still had whatever concept or ideal it was that they fell in love with together, and doing it in Nightmare is the negative side of it was better than abandoning that concept or ideal.
I also don't think sylvari use words like 'husband' or 'wife' - the sylvari term is the gender-neutral 'dearheart.' The words 'wife' and 'husband' just feel wrong when we're talking about sylvari because those are human terms.
Now, if there was a romance between a sylvari and a human and the sylvari was like 'sure we can get married your way' - then that would be cool and interesting.
But like - making sylvari just planty humans culturally is lazy when there's so much potential. And I'm aware I didn't do anything special in this post, I'm just being picky about words.
But hey, it's a concrete system for romance that doesn't feel like humans that happened to be born as plants!
For example, I don't ship Trammander. He's always been a friend/brother to me. My Commander specifically sees him as a father figure. Eveanin, my kinda-sorta 'backup Commander' - it's complicated - is head over heels for Trahearne (she's a sylvari player! her Wyld Hunt and Trahearne's are intertwined!) but he only has eyes for the Commander, but the Commander - who is sylvari enough to fall in the love the way sylvari do - sees him as a father figure and Eveanin lowkey resents her for not seeing how amazing Trahearne is and tying up his affections like that without even realizing. Eveanin knows she has no chance with Trahearne and is just kinda pining watching him stare at Commander while she (and actually Ridhais too!) are just left on the side. And so it's this massive love-square-thing and Commander just doesn't get it and it's tragic because then the Mordremoth Disaster happens and all three of them are devastated.
I envy y'all putting your characters in costumes and keeping your characters so perfectly up-to-date and relevant to present day that you can write miniscule social interactions given each character's state of mind that day.
Me? I'm sitting at roughly post-HoT, pre-S3. (OFC I know what's been up since then, and a general sense of what she's been through and how she feels about most major story beats, but - ) I don't even know what my Commander thinks of Caithe. I don't know if she's ever thought about how much she relied on Taimi in S3. How well did she know Blish? How much hope did she put in Aurene? What IS her present understanding of the dragons? Does she or does she not want to lie down and rest already? Does she want to hug Braham and cry in relief that he's alright, or is she mad at him for endangering himself, lots of innocents, and perhaps even their chance at victory? How has she been affected by Jormag? What subtle things are going on in her mind? What was her real opinion of the temporary truce?
But it's not just recent stuff! How did she feel about Braham in S3? Did she explore the nuances of her resentment of Logan? How did she react to finding out she was going up against one of the Six? What about the secrets of the Shining Blade? What about dying - how does she feel about that, aftermath aside? How does she feel about fighting Elder Dragons anymore given Taimi's discoveries? Is she annoyed or worried by Joko's rant? Confident or concerned about Aurene eating him? What about the free Awakened? Does she feel uncomfortable around them simply because they're undead, or does she pity them, or does she desperately wish Joko could have helpfully Awakened some of her dead companions before he died, or did she have that thought and find it revolting? How does she feel about Kralkatorrik after that strange talk by his heart? How does she feel about Aurene's feelings about Kralkatorrik?
I wish I could stay caught up, but I'm just getting further behind. I don't know how y'all do it.
- sylvari sapling, 10/10 about respecting the Firstborn
- Trahearne or - "YES"
- Dusk bloom
- Wyld Hunt Valiant, this impossible Wyld Hunt shall be completed IDC what you say (Caithe and Trahearne: -shakes head- 'oh the poor little sapling' but Eveanin ignores them)
- Pale Tree's golden child in sylvari PS
- Vigil girl! 15/10 some must fight so that all may be free
- NOT the Commander, and irritated about it (sylvari sapling is too young for this job)
and, last but not least:
- love square where Trahearne is in love with the Commander; Eveanin, the Commander's direct subordinate, is in love with Trahearne; and Ridhais, Trahearne's bodyguard, is also in love with Trahearne. Oh, and the Commander is completely oblivious.
-----
Total: 9
Verdict: the personification of my loyalty to Trahearne, my star-crossed heart will remember you always, you were the light of my life and I will protect you until I die, if the dragons were stars you would outshine them all
Taimi started it. Nobody noticed for a long time - it is a hard thing to notice. Kasmeer noticed it first and followed suit. Marjory picked it up within days. Blish had been doing it for ages but he noticed when they did. Rox had to ask straight-out what that slight pause meant, but after it was explained to her she did it too, and after explaining it to Braham, he joined the club.
Canach noticed it ages ago but he delighted in doing the opposite. He says it was just to be contrary, of course, but really it was to highlight what everyone else was doing.
Rytlock said it one day and everyone suppressed a sort of wince - the Commander noticed that but didn't think much of it. Over the next few days, Rytlock played with that phrasing a bit trying to figure it out, but when he did he clammed up.
The Commander had never really done it in the first place - she wasn't the type to sit around and complain about things. But until she noticed, the phrase was still liable to slip out.
It wasn't until Blish died and the Commander and Gorrik had a heart-to-heart outside of Sun's Refuge that she became more aware of such things. But she still didn't notice until later, when Caithe was complaining about the lack of security and pestering some of the Sunspears to set up something better.
Canach finally snapped at her, "would you calm down? It really bugs me how obsessive people can get over nothing."
It was, truly, a double statement, one honest and one an act. And the Commander joined the show. Logan and Caithe weren't really part of the group that much, but they got a stern talking-to from the Commander the next time either of them said it.
And ever since, the only member of Dragon's Watch who, in annoyance, utters the phrase "that bugs me" has been Canach.
Because Gorrik loves bugs. And we don't want to make him feel like he's an annoyance or an irritation.
TL;DR: Eveanin, the youngest and weakest of the Commander’s sylvari allies, only agrees to be the fourth member of the team going into Mordremoth’s mind because it is better for her to turn there... than out here where Trahearne is vulnerable.
~oOoOo~
“Mordremoth didn’t even try to cover its tracks,” Marjory Delaqua informs the group after a cursory glance around. “Either this is a trap, or the dragon’s getting desperate.”
Tiffany Commander, her mouth pressed in a thin line, volunteers a comment. “I’m going to vote for trap. Mordremoth is painless.”
Wait, what? Commander hadn’t mentioned that before. Commander had always felt intense pain around any kind of dragon corruption.
Eveanin glances around again - the jungle dragon surrounds them on all sides. She can feel it breathing… in sync with her own. Or maybe she is in sync with it. I’m the weak link here. If anyone turns, it’ll be me. The matching of the breathing - all by itself - makes her jittery and nervous. I’m the youngest, the weakest, the one with the worst secret. The easiest to manipulate. “Can we get going?” she asks. “I want to get away from here already.”
“Seconded,” Canach says dryly.
Mordremoth wants us gone, as well,” Marjory points out. “We’ve got company.”
“News to me,” Canach snarks back, even as he draws his blade.
Eveanin steels herself against the feeling that she is fighting allies. Other sylvari, corrupted - her sisters and brothers. Other Mordrem - her cousins from other Blighting Trees. Her kin. They’re Mordremoth’s minions. They are the enemy. They captured me. They took Trahearne.
Blue magic swirls around her fingertips, and a furious flame springs up in a ring around the small group of rescuers. She seizes the five nearest Mordrem with a magical hook and draws them into the fire, into the weapons of her allies. Commander falls back from melee range, nocking an arrow.
Thorns, she’s vulnerable back there! A protective blue dome flashes into existence around the Commander, knocking back a charging Mordrem.
Eveanin is a frontline fighter. She can’t handle Mordremoth’s subtlety. She doesn’t have the time to question her every impulse, not in the heat of battle. But I have to. I’m a liability otherwise - a constant menace.
“We’re clear,” Rytlock announces, when the Mordrem are gone.
“Looks like there’s only one way forward,” Braham observes, gesturing toward the tunnel leading further south… and down.
“Let’s move, then,” Commander says with a resigned sigh. “Stick close - we don’t know what’s down here.”
Armies cannot stop me.
The dragon is focused on the battle outside,” Canach points out. “We’ll never get a better chance.”
Yeah, except since when do we hear its stray thoughts? Eveanin wonders, following Commander down the path. Mordremoth intended for us to hear that. It wants us to think we have an advantage.
More Blighting Pods. Eveanin glances away and hurries past them, trying to ignore the way the pulsing light inside the pods lines up perfectly with the rhythm of her own breathing. She’d already tried and failed to change it, but each breath requires intense concentration to time right. And it just makes her anxious.
Ahead of her, Commander inhales sharply. “There he is,” she whispers, hurrying forward. “Great gods, what has Mordremoth done to him?”
Eveanin glances up and sees him, too - physically bound to the dragon, Trahearne looks haggard and weak. Blue magic flares around her fingertips in anger. She wants to murder something. Mordremoth has no right to do this - any of this - to Trahearne. To anyone. The Marshal shouldn’t have sent her with the others to escape. She shouldn’t have let him.
She glances away. Canach might want to pound the dragon into the dust for its crimes, Commander might want to defy Mordremoth to the Underworld and back, Caithe might just want to ensure freedom, even at the price of death… but Eveanin just wants to run far, far away. Or just surrender, give up, let the inevitable happen and let myself die. I don’t have to care. Eveanin shivers. Stop it. Every second that passes, surrender becomes more and more inviting.
“Commander?” comes Trahearne’s tired voice. “The Pact… is it…”
You’re an admirable fool, Trahearne. Asking after the Pact, and you in this condition?
“All but gone, Marshal,” Commander says quietly. “But once we get you out of here, we can regroup and finish the dragon once and for all.”
Trahearne shakes his head slowly. “It’s too late. I know - I am part of the jungle dragon now. It is everywhere.”
“Oh, Trahearne,” Commander whispers, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he says, his voice slightly creaky. Commander, her own shoulders slumped, opens her mouth to protest, but Braham speaks first.
“So how do we kill it?” Braham asks, drawing attention back to the main point. “Burn every field and fell every forest?”
“No,” Trahearne replies with a sigh. “It can’t be defeated that way. It’ll just grow back. Its roots have spread too far, too deep.”
“Then… we destroy the root,” Commander says slowly, in that thinking-out-loud manner she does when figuring things out. “Mordremoth’s mind! Its strongest attacks come from its mind, from the Dream. That’s our target.”
Not only from the Dream. Scarlet and Aerin were Soundless, and they fell more easily than anyone. Eveanin glances around, wondering what else Mordremoth uses as a tool to broadcast its Call.
“Sound strategy, Commander,” Canach says approvingly. “Turn the tables and attack the dragon the same way it’s been attacking us? Brilliant.”
But we are barely strong enough to hold it off ourselves. How can we be strong enough to counterattack effectively? And then, a crushing, impending cloud descends on her mind, stifling all thought. A low rumble rolls through her, and every part of her being fixates on the sensation - it is all she can sense, all she can imagine - and her breathing in time to the discordant beat of Mordremoth’s thoughts.
Eveanin blinks, looks around frantically; dimly, she hears Canach scoffing at the dragon’s dislike of the idea, the strain of the pressure invisible under thick layers of sarcasm. Eveanin casts around desperately for some outside influence to focus on, to help separate her mind from Mordremoth’s.
“Yes…” Trahearne says, and his voice sounds distant and far-off, as if from down a long tunnel. “Strike at the dragon’s mind… through the Dream.” It’s not the Dream, it’s not - Eveanin clings to the thought, to Trahearne’s voice, to the terrifying plan ahead of them. “It can work. And my connection will provide the access you need.”
“The Rata Novans said each Elder Dragon has a weak spot. We just identified Mordremoth’s,” Commander says, sounding confident and sure. Why now? Why now, of all times, to be the stronger person, the one I’ll have to rely on?
“I’m ready,” Trahearne says after a moment. “If I concentrate, I can open a path into the Dream… into Mordremoth’s mind.” That’s where we’re going, not the Dream - we’re going into Mordremoth’s very mind. Trahearne knows. Oh, curse the day I let him send me away. Curse the day I carried that message to Commander. Trahearne goes on; “your minds will make the journey, but your bodies will remain here in the cavern.”
Rytlock growls. “I’ve seen enough metaphysical landscapes lately. I’ll stay behind to keep the Mordrem at bay.”
“I’ll stay too,” Marjory speaks up. “If something goes wrong… or Trahearne isn’t what he seems to be… I’ll be standing by.”
You absolute idiot! Eveanin wants to scream. Now is not the time to go sowing distrust and suspicion! You’re as bad as Mordremoth! Eveanin pauses. No, no call for that, either. ‘Blame will get us nowhere.’ Eveanin glances at Caithe, who hadn’t said a word since Faolain. What she thinks of this whole situation, Eveanin can’t guess.
“I’ll be more useful out here,” Pharlt speaks up, his voice tinged with sadness, as it had been since Creepylaugh’s death. “I don’t… I don’t trust myself in fighting Mordremoth mentally.”
“Alright,” Commander says slowly. She glances through the group of those who hadn’t spoken. “Canach, Braham - you’re with me. Eveanin?”
Eveanin pauses. She wants to say no. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to hold up inside Mordremoth’s mind itself. But if I stay, and I turn, that puts Trahearne in danger. Commander can deal with me if needs be… but those who are staying out might not even notice. She finally nods.
“I swear by the Pale Tree,” Caithe says firmly, “none of you are being taken by the dragon on my watch.” She turns and eyes the tunnel they had come through. “Taking on an Elder Dragon and all its hordes. Just like old times, eh, Rytlock?”
“Exactly like old times,” Rytlock grumbles. “Which means you stay where I can see you.”
Eveanin meets Caithe’s eye and gives a little nod. She doesn’t blame the older sylvari, nor distrust her. And a little trust goes a long way in helping against Mordremoth.
“Whoa - “ Rytlock says suddenly. “Three out of four going into Mordremoth’s mind can already hear its voice? Does anyone else - “
Rytlock’s words dwindle to nothing as the world around Eveanin dissolves into blackness and vines and jungle tendrils and Mordremoth’s voice.
You should not have come here. I am everywhere. I am all.
An answering thought - Only in your mind. And I will reduce your mind to ashes before I’m done! That’s Commander. She’d sounded quite ferocious - angry - vengeful.
You are not me. Eveanin herself feels small and tiny, but the words ring true. You may have your claws in my mind and your corruption in my body, but I still walk free.
Stupid dragon doesn’t even have the ability to see beyond its own domain. I don’t think it’s even capable of corrupting non-plants. That’s Braham, probably rolling his eyes and being all overconfident. And unaware of the fact that this is a conversation, not a private thought.
Your ability to be in control of everything seems greatly lacking when you alone of all dragons find it difficult to control your own minions. Canach’s scathing insults - accurate as always and elaborate to the core - are more along the lines of what Eveanin can identify with. Sharp wit and dry humor are probably Mordremoth’s worst enemies.
Bold words, Mordremoth replies at last, his thoughts full of intent - but empty ones.
The vines and tendrils around her writhe into an arena, a battleground, in a form more familiar to Eveanin’s senses than the empty void of pure mindspace.
Eveanin glances around - her allies are all here, all still apparently themselves.
“Thanks to you, my legend ended in failure,” the familiar voice of Eir Stegalkin speaks up, scathingly, disappointedly angry. “Fallen, forgotten, and far from home.”
Eveanin opens her mouth to speak - Eir had always belittled herself and said her time had passed - but Braham beats her to it. “I’m done listening to these lies. You’re not my mother - you’re Mordremoth’s toy!”
Eir snaps her fingers.
“Watch out, she’s calling - “ Eveanin throws magic out in front of her to stop the dire wolf from knocking her over. She turns and sprints away, Garm hot on her heels. A domed barrier, pushing him back. Eveanin pauses, gathers herself, and turns on the wolf, blade in her hands. She doesn’t want to fight Garm - she’d fought beside him too often for that - but she forces herself to as she had for the Mordrem. It’s all fake.
“I can’t pin her down,” Commander calls. “She’s too quick!”
“Focus on Garm!” Braham calls back. “Believe me, if you down him, she’ll come running.”
And, just like that, the other three are at her side, kiting Garm away and staying out of Eir’s range, until he falls prone, injured and unmoving. Eir teleports - since when can Eir teleport? - to his side and kneels down.
Eveanin is shocked to see the wolf healing, flesh knitting together far more quickly than any magic she had ever seen before. Eveanin throws Eir back with magic. “Keep her away from Garm!” she says urgently. An arrow from Commander, charged with magic, forces Eir back even further, and Eveanin darts forward with her blade on fire, spreading it to the ground around them and Garm, in case Eir gets back to him.
Eir is finally incapacitated, standing in place in disoriented confusion.
“She looks normal - is this another trick?” Braham asks suspiciously.
“Look there,” Commander calls, pointing across the arena. “A rift opened. Maybe now we can break Mordremoth’s illusion. Let’s widen the rift.”
Canach and the Commander pull the sides of the glowing rift, forcing it open. A huge sucking starts up, like an unplugged drain, drawing Eir and Garm and all corrupted things to it, peeling a layer off the mindscape.
Where is it going? Where did the rift come from? Is that something Trahearne did? I knew ‘mind’ was too vague of a ‘weakness.’ There’s something else at play here.
“Commander, at the end there…” Braham says slowly. “She seemed like herself again.”
“That’s because we overcame Mordremoth’s illusion,” Commander explains. “And the real Eir would be proud of how you did it.”
Eveanin tries not to think resentful thoughts at the Commander. It will only interfere with the mission.
Suddenly, a new illusion appears - a towering vision of Canach, glaring sullenly at them.
“Who are you supposed to be?” real-Canach asks, sounding disgusted.
“Oh, I’m you,” Blighted Canach says, sounding delighted in a mocking sort of way. So this one might be corrupted, but it’s still Canach… that’s terrifying. “What you were meant to be, what you will be: Mordremoth’s loyal servant, and gladly so.” He’s as bad as Faolain! Eveanin sighs, as the corrupted sylvari goes on. “You are strong, but lack focus. So you seek a master. Mordremoth is that master.”
“Is this a joke?” Canach asks, but Eveanin can feel the fear radiating from him, the knowledge of the grain of truth inside the deception. “My will has always been my own. I seek no master and never have. I am no one’s servant.”
“Oh?” Blighted Canach sneers. “Countess Anise would disagree. Accept the truth: Mordremoth needs servants, and you were born to serve.”
Oh thorns, don’t give in to get away from Anise!
“No,” Canach says. “To redeem myself, I choose to serve. As I choose to kill you now!”
And then, Blighted Canach starts throwing bombs everywhere. Ten times as tough as the real Canach. Eveanin finds herself busy dodging them for some time, while Commander and Canach shout encouragement to each other. Finally, Commander finds another rift, and Blighted Canach disappears.
“I was strong enough to change what I was,” Canach says disdainfully. “I will be strong enough not to become… that. Thank you for trusting my strength, Commander. And for lending me yours.”
“You earned it,” Commander replies. “In my world, a willful comrade is always better than an obedient puppet.”
Eveanin glances around nervously. Braham, then Canach. Just me and Commander left, for Mordremoth to create a specialized attack. Eveanin knows what hers is. Mordremoth had been tormenting her with it since the crash. Now, she just wonders what form it will take.
That form turns out to be Trahearne.
“Heh, well,” Commander says with a strained smile, “if we had any doubt these were illusions before… what do you want?” she asks the shade.
But the corrupted vision ignores Commander and turns toward Eveanin instead. “See how she assumes I am targeted at her,” he says, sounding amused. Eveanin doesn’t reply. She can’t. Humiliation burns through her like a scalding acid. The fake goes on; “who would choose you? I needed a commander, not a student. I needed a friend, not an admirer. An encourager, not a parasite.”
Eveanin can’t look away, can’t think through the sluggish mire surrounding her thoughts to protest the dragon’s words. She isn’t sure she’d want to. What she can’t understand is why nobody else is intervening.
It continues. “But you have learned. You have grown; older and wiser. You helped bring Destiny’s Edge together and kill Zhaitan. You even more than proved your worth to Trahearne, helping him through the days after the crash, when his precious Commander had stayed behind on her little egg hunt. And yet he still did not see your true worth, and sent you away. Mordremoth has shown me your potential. Now, I choose you over the Commander.”
Eveanin exhales slowly - matched by the twisting vines at the edge of the arena - and shudders at the… intimacy the shared breath has. Chosen by Trahearne… at long last… a worthy replacement of the Commander… chosen by Trahearne. Eveanin blinks, her mind a foggy haze. You look different. Corrupted. Mordremoth is… Eveanin blinks again, unsure. Mordremoth was the one that revealed my worth to you in the first place.
“Mordremoth is not the enemy,” Trahearne tells her quietly, stepping over to her. “Do you trust me?”
Eveanin nods slowly, her eyes vacant and staring. Yes. Yes, I trust you, Trahearne. His voice - slightly different from normal - speaks directly into her mind. Now we have to fight Tiffany. She is not the Commander anymore. She can join us as a soldier or die.
But… but she isn’t the Commander anymore. She doesn’t matter. I have no quarrel with her. Eveanin doesn’t know why she is protesting. She just feels tired. She doesn’t want to fight any more.
You fight with your mind, here. Your magic is useless. But your mind is strong.
The mindscape is different, now; just Eveanin and Trahearne, with the arena fading off a few feet away. The chaotic, loud voices of Tiffany and Canach and Braham are nearby, but she can’t see them. Stop… stop, it hurts. Stop fighting it. It’s wrong.
The voices get louder, but they are still muted, as if behind a door. She can’t understand what they are saying. You’re fighting the natural order. It’s wrong. It’s against nature. Stop, please, it isn’t working. Trahearne, help, they aren’t listening. Make them stop.
The rest of the arena fades away, and Trahearne vanishes - she is back in the void of the mindspace - but she can feel his mind - powerful and terrifying, and she is glad to obey his orders. He shows her how to reach through the darkness and find a voice; to tune in to what is being said.
Commander needs to be shut down. She’d dominated Trahearne and the Pact for too long.
Eveanin, snap out of it, don’t let Mordremoth win! Commander sounds frantic and panicked. Her voice is out of sync with the rhythm of the mind around her.
But Mordremoth has already won. You’re fighting an unwinnable battle. Mordremoth has shown Trahearne who the true Commander should be. You can still fight under him, but I am his second now.
Commander, Trahearne says, his tone mocking, but aligned with Mordremoth’s pattern perfectly. Not loud and incoherent like a drunken norn. You think I would keep you after your near desertion on that wild egg hunt of yours? Eveanin is loyal. Trahearne’s voice fuzzes out - Eveanin can’t hear him anymore - but he’s still on the same wavelength as Mordremoth. Fight Canach, he tells her, his voice discernible for a moment before going distant and incomprehensible again.
Eveanin reaches, and finds him, and is shocked by Canach’s vehemence. He stabs into her mind with a gut-wrenching, discordant yell. Your greatest vulnerability was wanting to follow the great Firstborn around like a blind puppy? You’re more pathetic than I thought.
Eveanin fires back, aren’t you the one who said you admired him for charging at Mordremoth head-on, when you could barely stand it?
Yes, exactly. I admired him for resisting the dragon, not falling blindly into its embrace like a weak-willed sheep!
Like a vent of fresh air, these words puncture the hazy cloud surrounding Eveanin’s mind, the first sparks of returning reason. Yes… but Mordremoth can’t be all bad. He told Trahearne how valuable I am.
I thought you were smarter than this, Canach snorts, disgusted. That’s not actually Trahearne, that’s a farce a blind dolyak could see through.
True enough; Trahearne joining Mordremoth does sound a bit preposterous… Mordremoth is an Elder Dragon… but isn’t this rather like a Wyld Hunt? Our created purpose is to -
Stop, stop, stop. For one, I don’t have a Wyld Hunt and never did, and for two, do you honestly expect me to hare off on some wild quest like Trahearne did, just because our illustrious Mother - or the Dream - or the Menders - told me to?
Well… I suppose not… but -
But nothing.
Eveanin’s thought-pattern shifts slightly, contrasting to Mordremoth’s for a moment as she realizes: but my Wyld Hunt is to kill Mordremoth.
Like a rushing wind blowing clouds out of the sky, Eveanin returns to reason, and the mindscape returns. She is locked in a battle with Canach, somehow, and Tiffany is fighting Trahearne, and Braham is rushing across the arena to another rift.
Eveanin blinks as she reorients herself. That’s not Trahearne, that’s a corrupted copy; Canach isn’t fighting against the rhythm of nature, he’s maintaining independence; Tiffany is still the Commander, and Eveanin is back to being the overlooked shy one.
She breaks from the battle with Canach as a wave of dizziness sweeps over her; a depressing cloud of inertia hangs over her thoughts, which are sluggish and detail-oriented. She puts a hand to her head as pain threatens to split it open, she feels Mordremoth stabbing lances of pain into her brain, drawing single thoughts into obsessive clarity and detail. Not even full thoughts, or really anything; just the obsessing over nothing that brings on a splitting headache.
And fear, anger, rage - all jumbled together. What if Canach doesn’t realize I’ve snapped out of it and what did you do, I could’ve gone on living forever in that fantasy and then… I just wanted to be accepted, chosen, appreciated.
You can be. Just give in.
“One rift wasn’t enough! There’s got to be another one!” Braham hollers.
Eveanin wavers on the edge, her mind relatively clear - but desire, the happily-ever-after she could have, warring with reality, with sense, with not wanting to live in a fantasy for the rest of her life.
A rift opens at her feet, and Trahearne’s voice - the real Trahearne - speaks urgently into her mind. Mordremoth doesn’t have long left to live. Keep fighting.
Eveanin doesn’t know if Trahearne had intended to speak to her, or if those were just his current thoughts, but she sees life again. Mordremoth isn’t everything. Mordremoth is not the world, the all-consuming fabric of the world. This fight isn’t a small pocket rebellion that will be wiped out soon - it’s the victory, it’s the future.
It’s what Trahearne is fighting for, risking his own mind to send her into Mordremoth’s mind and free them all. Victory is inevitable. Giving in is just stupid.
So she reaches down to the rift and pulls, Canach with her, and she feels the last of the dragon’s influence drain away. The corrupted vision of Trahearne slides into the rift as well, and then it snaps closed.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Eveanin says quickly, as Commander and Braham look at her. “I… ouch.”
“I didn’t know you…” Commander stops. She looks slightly lost and confused. “You wanted to be Trahearne’s friend,” she says finally.
Eveanin glances away. “Yeah.” Jealousy, that’s what that had been. Commander is just too nice to say it.
“You know just because he didn’t choose you to be his second doesn’t mean he doesn’t value you as a friend.”
Eveanin shrugs. “Yeah, well… it’s clear to see he thinks the world of you.” Not that this doesn’t sting. The Commander will never see Trahearne as more than a friend. But… “Thanks for snapping me out of that, Canach,” she adds. “I… yeah.”
“Sylvari need to stick together when we have monsters trying to turn us into wooden puppets,” he reminds her.
Eveanin cracks a smile. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll do better next fight.”
TL;DR: Commander contemplates the Scrying Pool and its uses in viewing her past.
“Commander, you alright?” Braham asks.
Tiffany Commander is staring into the Scrying Pool thoughtfully, but she isn’t in a vision. She sighs. “Yeah, I’m fine, Braham. Thanks for asking,” she adds, with a small smile.
“You seem…” Braham trails off for a moment.
“I’m thinking,” Commander replies simply. “So much has happened recently.”
“What did you see in the last vision?”
“Almorra’s death. It… I…” Commander sighs. “I knew it before, but it’s so much more real now. Bangar has to be stopped. Before he does something he’ll regret… and before he corrupts Ryland further.”
“I’m not sure about him, Commander,” Braham tells her.
Commander shakes her head. “I know. I don’t call him an ally, either. But he’s young, and I think his heart is still pure. But if Crecia tries to defend Bangar again, I might have a fit.”
“Bangar tried to kill you,” Braham reminds her. “Even she can’t stay on his side after that.”
“Yeah,” Commander agrees, and falls silent.
The two of them stare at the pool for a long time, before Braham leaves, and the Commander is left alone again.
See visions of the past… with a memento.
Commander does not know if this is a good idea. She’d only recently come out of the years-long funk that Trahearne’s death had started, but she is wiser for it. She knows it might be good for her to see him again, even in a memory. But how will it work, going into my own memory?
Commander does not lack a memento. She carries two on her at any given time - both of her weapons. Caladbolg, of course, and the Pact bow that Trahearne had given her after Zhaitan’s defeat. Her Pact rank pin might work, as well.
But again - is going into a memory of Trahearne… wise? She has by no means forgotten him, but leaving painful memories alone and living for the future, not the past… Trahearne would prefer her to focus on Bangar and Jormag. On mentoring Braham and Taimi.
It would be like a chance to say goodbye, at long last. Finally put this pain to rest. The vision with Caladbolg - so many years ago, now - hadn’t been timely. Commander had been angry, frustrated, resentful - at everything and everybody. She hadn’t been ready to say goodbye.
But now… now she is more than ready. But do I need to? The real transition was when she stopped fighting for the past - for Trahearne’s memory, for his legacy of someday we will kill the last of them, just because HE said it - and started truly fighting for the future, for only then will Tyria be safe. She fights now for Braham, and Taimi, and Rytlock and Crecia - for Jhavi and the Vigil, now leaderless - for Eveanin, still so young, for Canach, who needs to lighten up a little… she fights for the future. Instead of pursuing a desperate revenge fueled by hate and fear and loss, that barely made any sense because Mordremoth was already dead.
Do I need to say goodbye?
Commander doesn’t know. She wants to - oh, she wants to, longs to speak to him one last time, even in memory when he can’t reply, can’t ever know it. But as Commander looks into the pool, wondering if - if she did go in - would she ever come out again? Aurene might drag her out, but then she’d be just as much a mess as she was before, unable to lead in this troubling time.
Or maybe, she would come out again. But she’d go back, again and again. She’d be addicted to it, need it like medicine. Need to hear Trahearne’s words of hope again.
I… I might not be strong enough for that.
Commander grimaces, twining her hand through the fur on Beorn’s back. She’d only just recently become able to admit weakness to herself, instead of bottling it up and trying to ignore it, trying to pretend she was perfect and a strong Commander. But she’d learned - or maybe Aurene had taught her, or Taimi, shown her that pretending just makes it worse in the end. Good thing, too, or my recent injury would have stolen all my self-confidence and left me with shame in front of my allies. No… my friends.
Maybe she can be Trahearne to her friends. She can be hope and a future to them, and maybe teach them to move on if she dies, instead of getting caught in the mire of grief like she was.
Commander stands up, slowly. Maybe some other time. Later. When things calm down a little. She turns and walks away from the Scrying Pool, Beorn at her side, Caladbolg on her back, and her friends awaiting her direction. I’ve come so far.
Besides… maybe normal memory is better, anyway. She can travel to the places her memories actually happened, explore old places anew at her own pace. Normal memory is hers, after all, and she treasures it.
“Hey, uh, Commander?” Rytlock says as she passes him.
“Yeah?”
“I, uh… I know you were close to Almorra. It… couldn’t’ve been easy, seeing her die.”
“It wasn’t. But I’ll be fine. Thanks, Rytlock.”
“No problem, Commander. You know we’re here if you need it.”
“Getting all soft and emotional, Rytlock?” Commander teases.
“No! It’s just that… well, Logan would skin me if I didn’t look after his Hero of Shaemoor.”
“Nice to know you still care,” Commander grins. Well. It’s not Logan’s fault he’s not as awesome as Trahearne… but he still tries. He’s still a friend.
“Commander, there you are!” Eveanin calls, hurrying over. “I haven’t seen you since you came back wounded from that fight with Bangar! Are you okay? You look too cheerful. Is something wrong? Are you hiding something?”
Commander frowns. “Where did you learn to read me so well?”
“Experience. I’ve been your student for eight years, Commander, and you’ve eluded me enough times. I’ve got you now.”
“Ah, well, I truly am sorry, then. I’ve just changed again. But look on the bright side; Bangar murdered Almorra, so now we get to go kill him.”
