Alis Volat Propriis

This is where the Kingdom of Fenia's main Inn is.

Moderator: Community Team

Post Reply
User avatar
Nikola
Posts: 3837
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:45 pm

Alis Volat Propriis

Post by Nikola »

Alis Volat Propriis translation: She Flies with her Own Wings
The market was bustling as Nikola surveyed the various booths, searching for ingredients for her workshops. She did not come often, but she had needed to resupply her own booth with more pet food for the masses so it had been a good time to wander about seeing what interesting and useful items might be for sale. She was admiring a pair of tailored trousers when the sensation of being watched made the hair on the back of her neck prickle. She looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. There were faces present that she did not know, but there were always people she did not know. She shrugged off the sensation as just someone who was gawking at her wounds recently received in a war game.

She stopped in at the Mysts tavern and had a quick bite to eat along with her favorite beverage, a fire brandy. The brandy always made her think of TK as it was their shared love of the rich, fiery drink that had sparked a friendship between them. That friendship had grown into something much more since then, but every time she sipped the drink, her mind went back to those early days when he gave her a tour of his vast collection of brandies and other rare drinks.

When she was finished, she gathered up her things and headed outside, attaching her purchases securely to Starr’s saddle. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled again and this time she noticed a stranger nearby. She hadn’t seen her around before, but that did not mean anything. She was not a peasant as she carried herself too proudly to be of that simple folk. She was dressed plainly in tunic and trousers of simple weave, but her clothing was too clean to be that of a field worker. The woman seemed to be studying her, the fiery red hair that framed her face hanging loose about her shoulders. Nikola smiled and nodded to acknowledge her. The woman just stared and then turned away.
“Odd,” Nikola thought as she mounted her mare.

She and Starr took a leisurely pace as they left the noise and smells of a crowded city behind them. She was nearly halfway to Firestorm Manor when that prickling sensation came again. She looked back down the road she had just traveled, but all that could be seen were the ramparts of the Fenian castle in the distance. The road seemed deserted but as she turned back and urged Starr forward, she thought she caught a glimpse of fiery red hair hidden amongst the trees. She frowned, wondering how the woman could have kept pace with Starr on foot. Surely, she was mistaken, Nikola told herself, but the prickly sensation did not abate.

She pulled back gently on the reins and turned Starr around to better determine what she thought she had seen. At first, nothing seemed out of place, but then she saw it. Red hair in amongst the trees. Unsure why this stranger was following her, or how she had managed to keep up, she urged Starr back toward where the woman seemed to be trying to blend in with the trees. As she drew near, the woman stepped out from the trees and appeared to be waiting for her at the side of the road. Nikola studied her as Starr came to a halt beside the woman. Nikola carried only her diamond dagger with her, but she was never truly unarmed, yet she did not sense danger from the woman. Nevertheless, she remained alert.


“Who are you and why are you following me?” she asked. Her tone was neutral, neither welcoming nor dangerous as she asked the question.
Image
User avatar
Aaliyah
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:43 am
Location:

Re: Alis Volat Propriis

Post by Aaliyah »

A decade's journey coming to an end, for that was how long she had been searching. It had taken her longer than she had expected, but then of course time was relative. It flowed freely over all beings and yet no one creature perceived it the same. That said, over 11 years of searching was a bit much even for Aalyiah. For 4209 days she had been searching for her brother's lost child. She supposed the child was not actually lost, but finding the child was more difficult than she imagined. When she was still young her brother had chosen to leave the celestial domain, a decision that Aaliyah still struggled to understand. It was many years late that she would learn of the existence of the child and her brother's untimely demise. Then came the task of tracking down the child. The child, a girl, had been born in a realm far away, out of reach of both her father and even her grandfather. She devoted all of her time to find her niece and now she had found her.

That was how she had ended up here, in Fenia. The child was now a fully grown woman with a life far outside of what she had even imagined. Aaliyah couldn't help but feel a swell of pride as she saw how her niece had thrived. She also felt guilt for not finding her sooner, and guilt for now coming to disrupt her life. She didn't need Aaliyah. The woman had done perfectly fine on her own. It would have been easy enough to turn around, to go back to her home and leave the woman undisturbed. And yet...Aaliyah couldn't bring herself to do it. She stayed back and kept her distance but continued to watch over the woman Nikola until finally, she decided she was ready to meet her.

It was much like any other day, Aaliyah followed after her niece except this time she did not cloak herself. Nikola had first spotted her in the market where Aaliyah had been watching her at a closer distance than she usually allowed. Surprised that her niece had smiled and acknowledged her, Aaliyah simply stared back. Perhaps now would have been a prudent time to greet her but there were too many creatures around. Later, she thought to herself as she once again disappeared into the crowd. When Nikola left the market she followed after her. She well knew the way to Firestorm Manor by now, so she wove through the trees invisible to all, stopping every so often to stop and watch the other woman's progress. She stood close to the pathway, close enough that Nikola would surely see the fiery-haired woman standing amongst the trees. Sure enough, about halfway to her house, Nikola spotted her. She stopped, dismounted her horse, and moved nearer the treeline. Aailyah stepped carefully out of the trees to stand along the side of the road.


"Hello, Nikola. My name is Aaliyah. I have been searching for you for a long time," she paused to offer what she hoped was a reassuring smile before continuing, "I'm your aunt."
Image
User avatar
Nikola
Posts: 3837
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:45 pm

Re: Alis Volat Propriis

Post by Nikola »

The woman knew her name, but Nikola was well known throughout the Fenian kingdom so that did not come as big surprise. The declaration that she was her aunt, however, had her reeling. Mentally she filtered through the images that Vaelen had given her of her family, but this woman's face was not among them. "My aunt?" She was glad that Starr was beside her and, as if the mare sensed her mistress' confusion, had brushed up against her, grounding Nikola once more to the earth beneath her feet. "I have seen all of my mother's kin in vision if not in person and your face is unfamiliar to me. How can you claim such a connection and for what purpose?" she asked, studying the woman who stood before her. She looked to be not much older than herself although she found it was difficult to put an age to her. Her eyes seemed wise beyond her years, assuming she was around Nikola's age. There were no lines on her face and no gray that she could see in her hair. Yet something about her felt true. There was something in the eyes that felt...familiar? Yet she had never seen this woman before that she could recall.
Image
User avatar
Aaliyah
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:43 am
Location:

Re: Alis Volat Propriis

Post by Aaliyah »

"I'm not your mother's kin," Alliyah said with a slight shake of her head. She turned began to walk along the path, assuming that Nikola would follow suit and match her pace. This time she moved much slower, taking a leisurely human pace. She knew that the information would be surprising for her niece, but what surprised Alliyah was that Nikola seemed not to have considered her father's family. Perhaps her brother had preferred to keep that part of his life a secret.

"I am your father's sister. I must apologize for not finding you sooner, but I have searched for many years. When my brother left the celestial domain, I knew nothing of his whereabouts. It was years before I learned of his death and your existence. My purpose is none but to find you."
Image
User avatar
Nikola
Posts: 3837
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:45 pm

Re: Alis Volat Propriis

Post by Nikola »

Nikola hesitated as the woman turned to walk in the direction of home, yet her curiosity was piqued, and she had sensed no danger from her. Neither had Starr, for the mare had given no indication of fear or worry, and the beast was a pretty good judge of whether danger was nearby. By the time Nikola began to move her feet to follow Aaliyah, the woman was already several steps ahead. Starr blew out a low snort and shook her mane before following along behind Nikola as she caught up with Aaliyah.

“My father?” Nikola frowned slightly, trying to remember anything that that Vaelen or Bannon might have said about her father, but in truth Vaelen had not done much more than acknowledge her father as the husband of her mother and Nikola’s sire. Bannon, the man who had raised her as his own, had never said anything, really. While Vaelen had shown her visions in which the man he called Nikolaj was present, the only personal memories she had of her birth parents were from that fateful night, seeing them through the eyes of a frightened young child as they sent her away from them. She could still see the haunting in their eyes and it was those two sets of eyes that had haunted her dreams throughout most of her childhood.

“I don’t remember my father," she said, adding "Or my mother." She shook her head, refusing to fall back into the depth of depression that she had once fallen into after losing so many of the friends she had become close to, and who turned out to be extended family through her mother's line. "I know his name. I have seen him in a shared vision, but the only personal memory I have of him was when he and my mother sent me away to keep me safe from the war that was coming. I was very young at the time, and I used to awaken sometimes in the night calling out for them, even after I had mostly forgotten them and had accepted Rose and Bannon as my parents,” Nikola explained then stopped as something else the woman had said sunk in causing her feet to stop moving as she looked incredulously at Aaliyah. “Celestial? What do you mean by ‘celestial domain’?”
Last edited by Nikola on Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image
User avatar
Aaliyah
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:43 am
Location:

Re: Alis Volat Propriis

Post by Aaliyah »

Aaliyah listened with interest to the woman explain her knowledge of her father. It was clear she knew very little. She hadn't even considered that the man had family. Family might be a loose term in this case. They were not exactly a close-knit bunch. Aaliyah had only ever seen her own father every couple of years. Her grandfather she had seen all of two times in her half a century of life. Being an almighty deity was apparently very time-consuming.

Then her niece asked about the celestial domain and Aaliyah redirected her attention to the young woman.
"Ahh, yes. The celestial domain. Some call it heaven, paradise, 'The Eternal Kingdom'," Aaliyah explained, "Depends who you ask. It's another plane of existence, beyond the reach of this realm. That is why it was so difficult to find you. The powers of Sight do not work here." This probably created more questions than answers, but Aaliyah lacked the knowledge to understand how very unaware Nikola was about her paternal lineage.
Image
User avatar
Nikola
Posts: 3837
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:45 pm

Re: Alis Volat Propriis

Post by Nikola »

Nikola knew about other realms. Her own ancestry was based in the realm of the Fae, or at least one of them, so learning that her real father might be from another realm was not particularly an earth-shattering event, but she was surprised as Vaelen had never mentioned this, or even alluded to it in the visions he had shared with her. Perhaps he had not known?

That this woman, who appeared to be near her own age, was her father’s sister, though. That was a revelation that finally made it through the fog in her brain that had at first focused in on the celestial realm.
“Powers of Sight?” she asked, thoroughly curious about this woman who was claiming to be…her aunt? “Why did you need to find me?” she asked, “and were you and my father close? What was he like?”

As she asked the questions that just more or less fell out of her mouth, she found that she was suddenly very hungry to learn about her father. She knew his name and had a rather fuzzy image of him in her memories as a child, but that was all. He was a stranger to her for all intents and purposes, yet he had given his life for his family, his home….and for her. Now she wanted to know everything she could learn about him and the woman standing before her.

Starr shook her head beside her and Nikola was reminded that they had been heading for home.
“Aaliyah…” she started, then hesitated. “That was the name you gave me, right?” Before the woman could answer Nikola did what any self-respecting woman would do. She invited her into her home. “We, that is Starr and I, were just heading home. Would you like to join us? I have so many questions that are beginning to bubble up and this conversation is likely to take longer than a casual meeting along the side of the road.” She paused then chuckled, “Although I suppose there was nothing casual about this meeting, was there?”
Image
Post Reply