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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arcturion" data-source="post: 3743896" data-attributes="member: 54632">1.2 Hommes OptareAs the conversation continued, Eltera found her stomach settling with the help of the food.  The rocking of the ship was still uneasy on her, but the meal had certainly aided in easing that sickness in her stomach.  The dinner was certainly a pleasure – far better than the meals she had enjoyed at the various areas around the city during her stay in Drace.  Other than being hastily prepared, the environment had been noisy and the company overbearing.  The hardwood cabin and flickering firelight was a welcome change. She listened calmly to his words, watching his eyes.  Eltera preferred when he looked at her face rather than her body.  Each time his eyes drifted to her figure or neckline, she felt her skin tingle slightly in an unwelcome manner.  Her slippered foot idly rested on Amurisil's hilt in reassurance.  Her toe rolled between two individual wrappings on the grip, idly touching over the ancient leather. Taking a delicate sip of her wine, she smiled at Rentiki's fantastic description of his homeland, "I only wish the place of my birth was as marvelous as yours.  For all of the amazement and breath-taking beauty of your homeland, mine is grim and miserable.  For each smile every single person of your realm as shared, there have been a hundred cries, tears, and shouts of anger, sadness, and despair.  There are no dreams in my homeland, only nightmares whether you are awake or asleep.  It is a land that is ruled by a cruel goddess that empowers her priestesses to lead their houses however their iron-will and cold-heart’s desire.  I was the daughter of such a mother.  The only way I did escape that fate was through the very will and love of my father.  He had always believed there to be a better way and saved me as from the whips and sins of the rest of my heritage as much as he could." Eltera found herself attempting to hold back her own tears.  She had long ago accepted the pains of her homeland; rather she found at the memory of her father.  This was hardly the first time she had thought about him, but she rarely spoke of him.  The words seemed to take her back even more then her own memory possibly could.  It was both heart-wrenching and truly expansive to remember her father. Keeping back the tears but under watery eyes, she continued, "Before he died, he had become a warrior of the God of Light from the surface world, having met a paladin of the same god.  However, before that, my mother had his eyes removed.  He travelled the Underealm blind, but seeing more than most anyone else.  That was how I had seen the nature of those witches." Her words stopped there as she remembered that ugly scene before her.  It had been wholly horrendous and a curse, but that had hardly been the first time she had felt her sanity ripped away from her very being, only to be wrestled back by some miracle.  Now, though, she found herself hard pressed to explain that feeling. She was uncertain how to begin speaking of them, but managed to stutter something out, "They were not human.  Of that you know, I am certain.  But to see their true nature was something wholly horrendous when compared to that I can see how most men would enjoy.  What I saw, instead, were figures that were not mere shades of their being but true corruption of the human form.  They were the same in shape, but there was no end to their void." Her eyes were no longer on Rentiki, but rather staring past him and the wall behind the Captain and anything else in this world, "When they noticed me, they truly took note.  One massive eye opened on the one you named Urd where her head ought to be.  The eyes were dark and deep and rimmed in green.  Then one eye opened on each of the others, one lined in gold and the other in silver.  Then there opened eyes uncountable over their form.  I'd think there were as many eyes on their forms as there were stars in the sky.  Each turned to me and I felt myself falling from everything and into your arms." With mention of Rentiki, her sight turned back to this world, looking to Rentiki, "I did not thank you for saving my life, so I offer my thanks.  I am certain that once you realized the truth of me, you had several other options open to you.  I am grateful for your trust in me." Speaking to Rentiki, her mind drifted back to that empty feeling the Nornir had evoked in her.  A shattered scene passed her mind's eye that recalled that same feeling.  She saw herself from above her body.  It was her, but not her.  She could see another form that called to her and promised a return to himself, where she belong.  It was dark and without end and promised many things.   After a few moments, Eltera also turned to Terwase, a polite smile across her ebon features, "And thank you again Terwase for saving me and for your words.  It certain opens up new demands upon me, though I think I already knew what had to be done.  My sins are great.  I did not wholly escape my home unscathed it would seem." A revenant.  The word held a new meaning to her.  Without even prompting, she could see those bleeding eyes before her face again.  It had not been Valsentres wielding that sickle, but it had been fueled by his anger.   Even now, at the mere thought, she could feel the wounds start to again open.  Calmly and trying to keep it secret, she shifted her hands into her lap, offering an empty smile, "Pardon me.  The day has been long, even though I slept most of it away.  I think I am only now beginning to understand some things.  I may have well invited my own ruin at seeing the truth of the witches.  It shall not be the first time and I am certain I cannot elude it forever.  So be it." Her eyes had drifted down to her lap and her hands as she balled them into fists to try to help stem the flow.  Again, Eltera looked up to Rentiki.  She had debated about not asking the Captain for fear of his own safety.  Her past was never kind to her friends, but Rentiki was certainly capable of tending to himself, "In your travels, have you ever heard of the H'jenn-Ra?  Perhaps the name Ayaleska?"</blockquote>

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