Subj: [ffml] [HD] On a hill overlooking the city of Troy...
Date: 01-02-06 14:14:21 EST
From: larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to: ffml@yahoogroups.com
To: ffml@yahoogroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com
The air-mirror dissipated, abandoning its image of Lia asleep at the mouth
of a cave.
Aerdrie Faenya, the blue-skinned avariel goddess of wind and weather,
frowned where it had been. Around her, invisible air elementals flocked,
trying to appease her.
"It is not enough," she said quietly. "Her power grows, but her control
does not grow with it - nor her understanding. This power must be
preserved...."
For a while she floated there, in the universe that had only air, lost in
consideration. After a nameless time, she created another air-window, and
floated through.
* * * *
This place was an endless wood under bright moon and starshine. Aerdrie
looked out of place as she flew dartingly between the great trees, seeking.
In an open place, under bright moonshine, stood an elven woman whose gown
dripped light. She faced Aerdrie with a smile.
"Greetings, sister," said the stranger. "Long has it been since you last
came to Arvandor. What brings you now? Shall we throw a welcoming feast?"
"No, Sehanine," replied Aerdrie. "I come seeking you and Hanali, over a new
gift among my children."
The one called Sehanine turned her pale, rainbowed eyes to meet the blue
field of Aerdrie's. "A new gift?" she asked, smiling. "Long indeed has it
been since any of your children managed to learn a new trick, and I can see
you are pleased. But Hanali and I don't usually like to meddle.." the woman
grimaced. "Well, anyway, *I* don't."
A bright, cheerfully seductive elf woman bounced into the glade, radiating
an unashamed sensuality. "I heard you say my name, sisters," she smiled.
"What can I do for you?"
Aerdrie re-created her airy window, showing Lia asleep in the cave. "It is
on behalf of this one I come to Arvandor, sisters," she said. "She is a new
thing, one I would see preserved. Her power would be of great benefit to my
children."
Sehanine commented, "That is the moogle world. Did you not chastise your
children there not a month since? And this particular one also? Lord
Corellon was not pleased you chose to be so heavy-handed, even though they
were in the wrong."
"I chastised them, yes," said Aerdrie, "as it is my right to do. I do not
hold grudges."
Hanali was peering closer at Lia's image. "I don't think you want me
meddling on this one, sister," she said. "I can see her future when it
comes to romance, and it's tangled enough as it is."
"That is why I want you to help," said Aerdrie. "Whatever else, she must
eventually return to NeuVariel and raise children. Without your touch, she
might not do so."
Hanali smiled, and it shone like sunshine after rain. "Don't try to tell me
my business, sister," she said. "You are the protector of this race, but in
matters of the heart acknowledge me the mistress. I can see where this one
is going to go - eventually - and I think it's for the best I stay out of
it. Good eve, sisters." Trailing warmth, Hanali bounded out of the grove as
she had bounded in.
Sehanine took a turn at examining the scene Aerdrie had made, humming
quietly to herself. "I can see what Hanali means," she said. "Though my
foreseeing is tied to different things. How badly do you want this one to
go home?"
"After she's done what I sent her to do, immediately," said Aerdrie.
Sehanine clicked her tongue. "I can see the power here, but it needs
tempering. Also, I see other signs...she is sitting unknowingly in the
middle of a bear trap, unaware of the jaws that might close on her at any
time. Will you protect her?"
Aerdrie looked surprised. "Protect her? Does she need it?"
Sehanine grasped Aerdrie's shoulder in a friendly fashion. "I can see much
more, and much farther than you," she said. "Farther than anyone but
Corellon himself. She doesn't need all of us looming over her, but she does
need a little more knowledge than she has. A *little* more faith. And, I
think, a friend."
Aerdrie turned. "A friend? Have you seen some sterling quality in her
companions I've missed?"
Sehanine smiled indulgently. "Ah, there you go again, so *impulsive*. The
Esper lad is quite promising, and others among her companions may prove
good friends also. But I wasn't talking about that kind of friend. Those
are friends of the head, friends of the spirit, friends of the road. She
really needs a friend of the heart. And, if you will trust me, I think I
can arrange for her to meet such a friend."
"She *needs* a lover more than a friend. My children need that gift to
continue."
"And hanali already told you she's staying out of this. If you want her to
have a lover, trust me - first she needs a friend."
"Oh, all right," Aerdrie grumbled, sounding like nothing so much as a child
asked to undertake some unpleasant task. "I'll leave it to you - but I'll
still be watching."
"I'm sure you will," said Sehanine. "You'll see the effect soon enough, and
when you do I hope you will trust in me and encourage it. *With subtlety*,
if you please."
Aerdrie sighed. "All right," she said. "You know where to find me." And
with that, she created her air-window, stepped through it, and disappeared.
Once the avariel goddess was gone, Sehanine created her own viewing-window,
and looked through it thoughtfully. "Dreams," she said quietly. "You two
won't meet in the flesh for a while, but I can bring you together in dreams."
Gently, she reached out one pale finger and touched the figure in her
viewing-window. Then, she gently touched the image of Lia, in Aerdrie's
window.
Banishing the windows, she chuckled quietly to herself. "Really, Aerdrie,"
she said. "You live alone in your world of wind and think so little of your
brothers and sisters. Do you really think we have as little interest in
you, O renegade sister, as you have in us?"
Still laughing softly, the moon-goddess, dream-goddess, magic-goddess,
turned in her light-dripping gown and disappeared back into the endless
woods of Arvandor.
Larathia
http://www.mcs.net/~larathia
ICQ: 22170253
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Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 13:06:19 -0600
Reply-To: ffml@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ffml] [HD] On a hill overlooking the city of Troy...
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