WickedStrawbery
First Post
Step into the Flame
The beginning
Eight-teen years ago Alec O'Farrell rode home from war to his holdings at Longrine keep. Visions of his faery bride Rhiannon clouded his eyes, the blonde curling tendrils clear green eyes and sweet haunting voice. His horse was almost upon her when he came to realization that she was before him, draped rather heavily over a male devoid of clothing. Without thought or caution his heart was filled with rage, and his sword plunged through the twined bodies. His people gasped and jumped backward in shock, and 'twas then Alec realized his folly...His young wife had been tending to the young man’s gaping chest and thigh wounds.
Rhiannon's maid, Jezell, alone knew that she carried Alec's babe. Faeries are thought to live forever, but when a fatal blow coincides with the carrying of a child she must choose between the unborn and herself. Alec stood in the room as Rhiannon laying wilting away, Jezell glaring at him, and al the while clinging to her hand. Alec's thoughts never drifted as to why his wife clung to her slightly enlarged belly, nor did he take note of her mumbling, until she spoke her last words. "My darling Phlayre take care of her." Upon the utterance of those words Jezell turned a pale white and shooed him from the room. As Rhiannon passed from the world a baby girl was brought into it.
Her hair was a fiery red, and spiraled about her in a halo, green eyes snapped with keen alertness, and the strangest thing, on her back etched into her flesh appeared a purple outline of wings, stretching from shoulder to lower back. Acting quickly for fear the enraged Alec would slaughter this innocent as he had her mother, Jezell wrapped the babe, carried her off into the night, gave her a name that her father would never recognize, and returned the next morning. The infant was found the next morning at the home of the Faery's mortal sister Ariel, with a thin blanket, and a note that read, "Ariel, forgive me, Alec has slain your sister, this is her child Brenna Jade O'Farrell treat her well." Ariel took the babe in, dumped her in the nursery with the maids, and her husband's nephew Falkyn Darkhold.
The Sordid Past
As the young Brenna grew within the walls of her Auntie's keep, Ariel plotted. Her sister had possed a talisman of sorts, tear shaped and made of garnet and moonstone. It was filled with energy and powers, and Ariel firmly believed that having been the first born in their family, it should have been hers. However Ariel's father had been mortal, and Rhiannon's had been as Fae as their mother, thus the stone had gone to her. When a thorough search of the basket revealed it hadn't come with the baby, she decided it must have gone to Alec. Rhiannon would not have allowed the powers to be buried with her. It was for this reason then that she sent her best knights to attack Longrine and bring her the stone.
The keep was burned to the ground and every inhabitant with it, for the stone could survive the flame due to it's power, however it was no where to be found. You can imagine Ariel's surprise then when Brenna came home with it clasped tightly about her neck at the age of five. Ariel believed she cared for the girl well, she was given lessons in riding, writing, singing, reading, the arts, hell she even took fencing with Falkyn...She deserved that damnable stone not Brenna! And then she launched an attack on her own keep. You see once the stone had found it's owner, if it was removed by their hand or by force the wearer would die instantly, and that would be too messy to explain, besides that damned boy was always at Brenna's back almost guarding her. During the attack the two children somehow escaped, though Falkyn was caught and whipped for he would not tell where Brenna was, as a further punishment he was left in the village orphanage.
Brenna found solace with a woman named Seria in the woods...Little did she know this woman was a friend of her mother's. Her time with Seria was spent learning to sail, and climb trees making her a master of air and sea alike, however that time was cut short when Falkyn came to take her into the world of Rhydin.
Brenna remained unaware of these happenings, she knew only that her parents were dead, and that she was not entirely human by the odd markings on her back. In Rhydin she discovered her Faery heritage through a friend Lord Starfire. Brenna devoted herself to his cause, though she kept up her private passions of sailing, painting, and tree dwelling. Brenna also began studies of her own on races, and the history of peoples, along with dabbling into magic here and there. She made many friends, the closest of which included Ice; a lavender haired wonder full of energy laughter and bite. Eideande, a mischievous winged enchantress, who's house held a larger assortment of animals than the jungle And the man to become her husband, a white haired lord of darkness Malkaev Fyreblayde. The three nursed her through the blooming of her wings, Seria's death, and the destruction of her first home. Brenna and Malkaev were happily wed and together the pair created a large home for themselves and the children they hoped to have.
A dark cloud came over them when Brenna received word that the people who'd chased her through thirteen years of nightmares were close at hand. Taking her leave of Rhydin at the witching hour she set out to find them with Falkyn...Not her husband at her side. Malkaev caught up with them three days before they met their foe. Brenna leapt upon the enemy ship to confront the stalker, and gasped with horror. It was her Aunt Ariel, who explained her quest for the stone, and vicious ambition to attain it. After hours of hand to hand combat, in which Brenna both gave and received several blows Ariel was defeated...Brenna blacked out and was found days later washed upon RhyDin's shores. Near death she was healed by Aren, the daughter of Lord Starfire, and then returned home. Falkyn sent word to her of his health, but her husband was never seen or heard from again, and with much regret. Upon returning home Brenna came to realize she carried his child. After birthing a beautiful daughter, Brenna returned to her homelands, hoping to settle there, no longer feeling she belonged in Rhydin.
Meanwhile
It seemed Alec O'Farrell had not perished in the blaze after all, and neither had Jezell. Alec wed the woman who'd nursed him to health after the attack, Morriganna. Sadly she was unable to bear the children they so desperately hoped for.
On the 17 of September every year, Alec had haunting dreams he mentioned to none; he relived Rhiannon's death, her whispered words, and then came a vision of a girl, who grew progressively older with the years, so familiar and yet a stranger. After a terrify nightmare of the girl being brutally beaten in a battle he confided in Jezell, who’d become to Morriganna what she was once to Rhiannon. The woman turned a deathly color and fled the room, making certain he wouldn't catch her alone again. For she could never tell him of the daughter he had. He would want to meet her, live near her and know of her life, and Jezell had naught to tell him. She’d thought Brenna had met death in the burning of Ariel’s keep.
Brenna rode into Longrine expecting to find the ruins of a home she never knew; instead she confronted a fortified keep, and after being admitted came face to face with her father. They both wept with joy and astonishment as first Jezell, and then Brenna regaled the tales of the past. Jezell taught Brenna the things her mother had not been around to do, including the extent of her magic, and her true name. When it came time to leave, the decision of what to do with her baby girl, Adweavia was easily made. Brenna came to them as a stranger...And Phalyre left as their daughter, Alec had been robbed of his daughter's childhood, but now his arms cradled his grand daughter to raise as his own, though Phlayre promised to visit often. And so the green eyed, fiery tressed faery girl returned to RhyDin and to her friends with new hope planted in her soul.
The beginning
Eight-teen years ago Alec O'Farrell rode home from war to his holdings at Longrine keep. Visions of his faery bride Rhiannon clouded his eyes, the blonde curling tendrils clear green eyes and sweet haunting voice. His horse was almost upon her when he came to realization that she was before him, draped rather heavily over a male devoid of clothing. Without thought or caution his heart was filled with rage, and his sword plunged through the twined bodies. His people gasped and jumped backward in shock, and 'twas then Alec realized his folly...His young wife had been tending to the young man’s gaping chest and thigh wounds.
Rhiannon's maid, Jezell, alone knew that she carried Alec's babe. Faeries are thought to live forever, but when a fatal blow coincides with the carrying of a child she must choose between the unborn and herself. Alec stood in the room as Rhiannon laying wilting away, Jezell glaring at him, and al the while clinging to her hand. Alec's thoughts never drifted as to why his wife clung to her slightly enlarged belly, nor did he take note of her mumbling, until she spoke her last words. "My darling Phlayre take care of her." Upon the utterance of those words Jezell turned a pale white and shooed him from the room. As Rhiannon passed from the world a baby girl was brought into it.
Her hair was a fiery red, and spiraled about her in a halo, green eyes snapped with keen alertness, and the strangest thing, on her back etched into her flesh appeared a purple outline of wings, stretching from shoulder to lower back. Acting quickly for fear the enraged Alec would slaughter this innocent as he had her mother, Jezell wrapped the babe, carried her off into the night, gave her a name that her father would never recognize, and returned the next morning. The infant was found the next morning at the home of the Faery's mortal sister Ariel, with a thin blanket, and a note that read, "Ariel, forgive me, Alec has slain your sister, this is her child Brenna Jade O'Farrell treat her well." Ariel took the babe in, dumped her in the nursery with the maids, and her husband's nephew Falkyn Darkhold.
The Sordid Past
As the young Brenna grew within the walls of her Auntie's keep, Ariel plotted. Her sister had possed a talisman of sorts, tear shaped and made of garnet and moonstone. It was filled with energy and powers, and Ariel firmly believed that having been the first born in their family, it should have been hers. However Ariel's father had been mortal, and Rhiannon's had been as Fae as their mother, thus the stone had gone to her. When a thorough search of the basket revealed it hadn't come with the baby, she decided it must have gone to Alec. Rhiannon would not have allowed the powers to be buried with her. It was for this reason then that she sent her best knights to attack Longrine and bring her the stone.
The keep was burned to the ground and every inhabitant with it, for the stone could survive the flame due to it's power, however it was no where to be found. You can imagine Ariel's surprise then when Brenna came home with it clasped tightly about her neck at the age of five. Ariel believed she cared for the girl well, she was given lessons in riding, writing, singing, reading, the arts, hell she even took fencing with Falkyn...She deserved that damnable stone not Brenna! And then she launched an attack on her own keep. You see once the stone had found it's owner, if it was removed by their hand or by force the wearer would die instantly, and that would be too messy to explain, besides that damned boy was always at Brenna's back almost guarding her. During the attack the two children somehow escaped, though Falkyn was caught and whipped for he would not tell where Brenna was, as a further punishment he was left in the village orphanage.
Brenna found solace with a woman named Seria in the woods...Little did she know this woman was a friend of her mother's. Her time with Seria was spent learning to sail, and climb trees making her a master of air and sea alike, however that time was cut short when Falkyn came to take her into the world of Rhydin.
Brenna remained unaware of these happenings, she knew only that her parents were dead, and that she was not entirely human by the odd markings on her back. In Rhydin she discovered her Faery heritage through a friend Lord Starfire. Brenna devoted herself to his cause, though she kept up her private passions of sailing, painting, and tree dwelling. Brenna also began studies of her own on races, and the history of peoples, along with dabbling into magic here and there. She made many friends, the closest of which included Ice; a lavender haired wonder full of energy laughter and bite. Eideande, a mischievous winged enchantress, who's house held a larger assortment of animals than the jungle And the man to become her husband, a white haired lord of darkness Malkaev Fyreblayde. The three nursed her through the blooming of her wings, Seria's death, and the destruction of her first home. Brenna and Malkaev were happily wed and together the pair created a large home for themselves and the children they hoped to have.
A dark cloud came over them when Brenna received word that the people who'd chased her through thirteen years of nightmares were close at hand. Taking her leave of Rhydin at the witching hour she set out to find them with Falkyn...Not her husband at her side. Malkaev caught up with them three days before they met their foe. Brenna leapt upon the enemy ship to confront the stalker, and gasped with horror. It was her Aunt Ariel, who explained her quest for the stone, and vicious ambition to attain it. After hours of hand to hand combat, in which Brenna both gave and received several blows Ariel was defeated...Brenna blacked out and was found days later washed upon RhyDin's shores. Near death she was healed by Aren, the daughter of Lord Starfire, and then returned home. Falkyn sent word to her of his health, but her husband was never seen or heard from again, and with much regret. Upon returning home Brenna came to realize she carried his child. After birthing a beautiful daughter, Brenna returned to her homelands, hoping to settle there, no longer feeling she belonged in Rhydin.
Meanwhile
It seemed Alec O'Farrell had not perished in the blaze after all, and neither had Jezell. Alec wed the woman who'd nursed him to health after the attack, Morriganna. Sadly she was unable to bear the children they so desperately hoped for.
On the 17 of September every year, Alec had haunting dreams he mentioned to none; he relived Rhiannon's death, her whispered words, and then came a vision of a girl, who grew progressively older with the years, so familiar and yet a stranger. After a terrify nightmare of the girl being brutally beaten in a battle he confided in Jezell, who’d become to Morriganna what she was once to Rhiannon. The woman turned a deathly color and fled the room, making certain he wouldn't catch her alone again. For she could never tell him of the daughter he had. He would want to meet her, live near her and know of her life, and Jezell had naught to tell him. She’d thought Brenna had met death in the burning of Ariel’s keep.
Brenna rode into Longrine expecting to find the ruins of a home she never knew; instead she confronted a fortified keep, and after being admitted came face to face with her father. They both wept with joy and astonishment as first Jezell, and then Brenna regaled the tales of the past. Jezell taught Brenna the things her mother had not been around to do, including the extent of her magic, and her true name. When it came time to leave, the decision of what to do with her baby girl, Adweavia was easily made. Brenna came to them as a stranger...And Phalyre left as their daughter, Alec had been robbed of his daughter's childhood, but now his arms cradled his grand daughter to raise as his own, though Phlayre promised to visit often. And so the green eyed, fiery tressed faery girl returned to RhyDin and to her friends with new hope planted in her soul.
