[Storm's Edge] Seeing Red

[Yeva]

95 Vhalar 720

Rest in peace.

Now, wasn't that funny?

A routine sentiment, Yeva knew how little peace there could actually be. On the other side. In that place. The obsession. The wandering. The screaming.

"Almost there, miss."

She blinked, unaware she had been staring at the horizon with a blank expression until she noticed the concerned look in the man's eye. He was too polite to comment on it, but she could see his question, debating with himself on whether he should ask if she was alright, if she needed a drink of water. Yeva watched him scratch the underside of his scraggly white beard and the furrow of his brow. Plastering a smile on her face, she leaned forward to pat Stroyski on his neck. It had been a small miracle he had been returned to her, but then again, being back on Idalos was a miracle in itself. All because of one woman.

"Thank you."

Yeva closed her eyes as the mount moved steadily beneath her weight. She would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous about going back, so close to the very spot she had been burned alive. But returned to life, she had unfinished business. And after a few days of recovery and reunion with her family, a mental and physical evaluation at the Order, and lots of time alone with her thoughts, Yeva was ready.

Ready to tackle that unfinished business.

Ponied to the man's horse, and a small group ferrying supplies, Yeva wiped away the beads of sweat that collected beneath her hairline. Prior to her death, she had been Fireforged and along with that honor, had the capability of being comfortable in any temperature extreme. Now? She felt hot beneath the ruthless suns, wondering why some changes stayed and others did not. Baskara's voice was gone, returned to Faldrass, but her scar... her scar remained, a bond with Cassion that not even death could cut with its brutal shears.

The traveler's shared their stories all the way to Storm's Edge. Yeva, listening, stuffed that lingering bitterness into the pit of her stomach where all the other unpleasant feelings had come to reside within her and kept her focus on the destination. The sooner they were there, the sooner she could give her proper thanks to

Mrs. Creede.

That's what the woman - Vivian, she had come to learn - had said at the Ball. Yeva had been so weak, so confused, so startled, so thankful, she hadn't been able to express herself, nor did she remember who she needed to extend her gratitude towards. Faces were familiar, but things had happened so quickly that day in the Storm Wastes, the name was just one of many. More things to do. Always.

Once they arrived, she began to climb down and tip the men for allowing her to ride with them, offering a couple coins to each and exhaled, drawing Stroyski's reigns to get him settled at a hitching post. Her search would begin in earnest, "Where are you?" she swept the local with her eyes, heading to the training grounds, where she imagined most soldiers would be. She remembered the red hair, curled and crazed like her own, Yeva knew how noticeable such a trait could be, and it was just the thing she needed to finally spot the woman, her mouth suddenly dry. Chewing her bottom lip, she took a deep breath, coming up short as to not get in the tall fighter's way, "Excuse me," she called, clasping her hands together before she could wring them, "Are you Mrs. Creede?"

Despite her anxious feelings, she smiled and it was genuine, "I believe I owe you my deepest thanks."

[Vega]

83rd Trial of Zi'da during Arc 716

Vega was sitting on a low wall, watching.

It was rare that the redhead ever sat still for any length of time, but now and then she did. However, this wasn't exactly still as she stood up - balancing on the wall itself - and watched the people training. "Yer droppin' your guard on your right side, Bill!" Vega called and smiled as she saw him correct it, even before she'd identified him by name. She stood there, watching them, and then at an appropriate moment, just when she thought it would be most inconvenient, she shouted. "Change!"

Then, she jumped down from the wall. As she did that, the knights who were fighting simply continued to fight, but Vega had given them a scenario, rather than the usual drills they did. It meant that they were working in groups, working as a team, and when she shouted change, they changed teams. It seemed to be working well, they were fighting as small groups, but focusing on each other and working together. That made her more or less - or at least a little bit, happy. Vega wasn't teaching them - she was rubbish at that and didn't have any patience for it. However, she was happy to work with their teachers and do things like this from the sidelines. Fundamentally, leading them and ordering them to think about tactics, throwing spanners in the works. Making things more interesting, and that she could do.

So, drills it was, but drills in teams. When the time came that the Pumpernickels were released again, when they took up Ilaren's call and fought, Vega wanted them to have the best chance of surviving that they could. She grinned at the officer who was actually running the drill, and he grinned back. They'd agreed she could do that and it seemed to be working. It added a little bit of chaos to the military rote - but not so much that there was an issue. Vega was happy. Having jumped down, she was just standing and watching them for a moment, when she heard a voice.

Was she Mrs Creede? Vega turned and looked at the woman who was speaking to her and her initial frown of confusion, at wondering who it was, disappeared and a smile crossed her face. "Wotcha, Yeva," Vega remembered the woman's face, from the ball. She looked different, but then again, that was hardly surprising. "Mrs Creede, aye, that I am. But if I beg you, will you call me Vega?" Her eyes swirled in a riot of colours as she said that. "Mrs Creede was my husband's Mama, an' she were lovely, but the scariest woman I ever met." There was no denying the truth of that.

Yeva said that she owed her thanks, and Vega shook her head. "Your thanks are very much appreciated, but not needed. It weren't right, what happened to you. We're all responsible for each other out there, an' havin' died myself, in a very similar manner, I were lucky enough to be brought back." That was part of it, but Vega was quick to point out, "Though, I weren't dead long. I was in the middle of bein' judged when I got brought back. Right weird it was." She looked at Yeva and gestured. "I'm jus' about to go an' get a mug of hot chocolate," she said softly. "Want to join me?"

If Yeva did come with her, Vega would head towards the mess hall and, as they walked, she'd ask a single question, quietly and without any sense of being demanding. "It took me a long time to adjust back. It changed me, I know that much." Biqaj eyes regarded her, and Vega spoke again. "How're you holdin' up?"

[Yeva]

T95 Vhalar 720

"Vega it is, then" the medic repeated, smiling as the woman introduced herself. What followed after was a surprise, and it drew a genuine laugh from her chest as she tried to imagine the infamous mother-in-law. She had heard descriptions like that before and the familiarity put her at ease.

Vega seemed to dismiss her thanksgiving, and while Yeva smiled, she felt unsatisfied with expecting others to be responsible for her. It had been intended as a simple scouting mission, but it was her own inexperience that had been her downfall. When the battle had come, she had been useless and had paid for it. Yeva's expression faltered and her shoulders dropped, but she said nothing, taking a deep inhale and looking away.

"-an' havin' died myself, in a very similar manner, I were lucky enough to be brought back."

Yeva stiffened and she looked at Vega with renewed eyes. So she understood?

Her heart began to pound harder and when the offer of hot chocolate was extended, she nodded her head, "Yes, please," Her steps were quick to keep up with Vega's longer ones while she felt such relief at not being alone. One of the most challenging things was that... well, no one seemed to understand.

Gently, the woman asked the question she had been struggling to answer since her revival.

How was she holding up?

Following the familiar route to the mess hall, she considered her next words carefully, "I don't know," she admitted, hating herself for such a poor answer, "I..." another sigh, "I had my judgement. I... wouldn't go," she didn't know how Vega would react to this but she was honest, "WhenI became an ghost... an echo, I guess," That was what the other souls had called it, "I kept thinking, every moment when I was stuck on the other side, how much I wanted to live, all the things I wanted to do, and now... Now I'm here and..."

She grew silent, shrugging, "It's like I don't always recognize myself anymore? Some trials, everything's perfect. I'm happy. And others... I can barely will myself out of bed. I'm irritable... It's like my body is here, but... my soul is tired."

The whole thing was maddening. It was like she was constantly fighting with herself to do more; Yeva felt like she had done nothing but sit on the sidelines in the Beneath, it upset her that she wasn't as productive as she wanted to be in the living world, "Everyone says I just need a little more time," she added as they entered the hall, voice resolute, "I suppose this is my lesson in patience, but... ugh, I hate it... Sorry, not trying to talk your ear off.

She smiled, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. Yeva knew the importance of waiting; she had been a medic long enough to know that not everyone healed the same and her own wounds were more than just physical. She had experienced a great trauma, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Burned alive. Gone in an instant, "How did you..." she looked up at the other redhead, "At the ball, I just... appeared backstage. I remember being in the Beneath, wanting to get out, and then next thing I knew, I was... well I was back. And they said it was all thanks to you," she hugged her arms to her chest, chewing on her bottom lip with a hopeful interest, "How?"

[Vega]

83rd Trial of Zi'da during Arc 716

That Yeva joined her for a warm drink was something which Vega was pleased about and she listened, as they walked. "Yer not, not at all," was all she said as they made their way, and that in response to Yeva's apology for talking too much. Once they sat down and had steaming mugs of hot chocolate in front of them, she spoke. "Well, first off, the simple answer. I'd been seein' you there, at the Ball, the whole time. It were like you were warnin' us, maybe? Because there was this moment, when I suddenly remembered what had happened. So, I told Ziell an' Daia an' Qylios. An' I said that the way you died weren't right. An' then, Ziell brought you back." Vega smiled slightly. "So all thanks to me is a bit of an overstatement. I jus' argued for you, said that you deserved a second chance an' that limbo wasn't fair on someone who was brave."

That was it, Vega saw no need to pretty it up or any such. She was quiet for a moment as she lifted her cup to her lips and drank. Putting it back down, she held on to it, feeling the warmth of the liquid as she swallowed it mirroring the warmth against her hands. "I got brought back, sent back, in the middle of my judgement," she said, quietly. Vega's eyes swirled in a cacophony of colour as she remembered. "I was arguin' with them, tellin' them I had things still to do. Even though I burned to death, I remember feelin' cold right at the very end." Looking down at the mug, at the liquid swirling in it, she spoke in an almost whisper. "Sometimes, I think part of me froze there, an' it's still frozen."

It wasn't like her to say anything to obviously vulnerable to a stranger - and a stranger was what Yeva was to her. But Vega remembered that time, after she came back, very well. "I've had a lot of time to think about it," she said quietly. "An' I had a lot of time then, because I came back an' my legs were broken. I were in surgery for a lot of hours, apparently. It were when the docks collapsed on Scalvoris, I was in the buildin'. " She lapsed into silence for a moment, and then spoke the truth of it. "I think what it took from me, what I'll never get back, is an illusion of permanence." She smiled slightly. "My Papa, he always told me that you can watch battle, or sailin', or lots of things, but it's not till you do them that you'll understand them in your soul. An', turns out, death's like that. I've seen people die but until I had, I didn't understand, an' I lived in the illusion of permanence until it stopped in an instant."

With the slightest gesture to 'out there', Vega shrugged slightly. "An' people don't get it. They think they do, but they don't." She smiled slightly. "An' they think that time will heal this feelin' - well, it might for you, but it didn't for me. But it took me a long time to realise that I'm not broken no more." Vega paused, a frown creasing her forehead, then she breathed in. "I think, honestly, if people are expectin' you to be the same person you were, they have the wrong expectation. You died. You died, an' you came back, an' that changes you." It was a harsh truth, but it was true as far as Vega was concerned. "I couldn't dreamwalk after I came back, an' I was jus' like you said. One day, fine, next one, like I were crawlin' out of my skin. But eventually, I realised, that it was when I was tryin' to be the person I used to be, that's when I couldn't fit in or work it out." She sipped her drink again.

"Because I died, an' it changed me. It shifted some priorities around, hoofed others into the bin. An' I'd be a right poor example of a person if it didn't. " Her eyes lifted to look at Yeva. "I died, an' it changed me. An' as soon as I realised that it had, an' that of course it did, I started gettin' better." She smiled, just a little sadly. "We can never be ignorant again. The illusion's gone, an' that's tricky."

[Yeva]

83 Zi'da 720

'Well, first off, the simple answer. I'd been seein' you there, at the Ball, the whole time. It were like you were warnin' us, maybe? '

"Really?" she breathed, listening to the story with a focused fascination. Others had seen her? Surely not in the Beneath, but... a shade or shadow of her image? Was there another phenomena to explain such a curious occurrence. She didn't dare interrupt. There was plenty about the afterlife she hadn't learned.

'Because there was this moment, when I suddenly remembered what had happened. So, I told Ziell an' Daia an' Qylios. An' I said that the way you died weren't right. An' then, Ziell brought you back.'

Yeva's mouth dropped, Vega smiling slightly.

"So all thanks to me is a bit of an overstatement. I jus' argued for you, said that you deserved a second chance an' that limbo wasn't fair on someone who was brave."

So, Ziell, Daia and Qylios had an opinion of her death, or at least knowledge of it, and she had still been stuck? Interesting. "Thank you," she tilted her head back to smile at the taller woman, "From what I gathered from that night, it was far from a simple production... To still be argued for... Vega, I'm honored to have had someone like you in my corner... And that you remembered me so."

She couldn't find the words.

And for all that she had done for her, Yeva learned of Vega's own experience with death and how closely it resembled her own. Hearing Vega's story, she felt such relief that there was something who understood. She gripped her drink, cradling it closely, hot steam snaking skyward to lick her cheeks. She exhaled deeply, feeling as if the entirety of her burdens lessened just a little bit more, "I've felt so guilty," she admitted, turning over the idea of life's illusion. Standing there with her, she looked out at all the others, imagining each of them with their own intricate lives with people they loved or hated, challenges, heartbreaks, idle contentment. Yeva wanted to shake them all into action, yet she herself felt stuck.

Or, maybe frozen, like Vega had said.

"Guilty... because... Those who mourned me, mourned my old life... and I guess I worry that now that I'm different - and I know I am, I can feel it, and not just the moods - but,... my soul is different," she struggled to piece together her thoughts. Vega would understand better than perhaps anyone she knew, and so she spoke as honestly as she could, feeling how her entire essence had struck aflame, "I guess I worry that I've broken their heart and if I'm not who they've missed, I'll break their heart again. It's like you said," she rotated the cup in her hands, appreciative of the warmth bleeding into her fingers, "Priorities change."

Yeva would always care for others, but she couldn't let that fear of opinion dictate whatever life she had left, "This should go without saying," she offered, after a moment to enjoy the drinks, "If you ever need my skill set, for whatever reason and for what it's worth... I will answer your call." It was a bold thing to offer a stranger, but Yeva had seen Vega fighting for Rharne and its people. Now the woman had given her good, sound advice... Yeva was willing to make the promise. With a smile, she "In the meantime, I've actually prepared a gift for you. I know, I know," her cheeks began to redden, "You might not think you did much, but I still wanted to get you something. I'm planning a trip to Immortal's Tongue for Ziell later, but until then..."

She felt a growing excitement, searching Vega's face for a reaction, "I thought I could stop by to thank you in person. Stay right here... Please?" Yeva rose quickly to her feet, already backpedaling, "I'll be right back, it's just on my saddlebag!"

Yeva turned to run from the mess hall and past the training grounds, boots crunching loudly in the snow. She cursed herself for not bringing the present with her, but after a bit of fumbling with the buckles, came sprinting back breathlessly, a modest box wrapped in brown paper, fun geometric designs drawn upon it in black ink, "For you."

Gift box

Inside the gift, Vega will find a handmade hat and matching scarf set, along with a collection of chocolates and hand sewn bags of herbal tea blends w/paper stars at the end of the string.

[Vega]

83rd Trial of Zi'da during Arc 716

It had been far from a simple production? Vega grinned. "Yer not wrong there. It was a storm, an' then some." She had all sorts of feelings and worries and concerns about that night, but Vega was very aware that her worries were not the issue here. She'd killed an Immortal - or so she believed. It was more than Vega could truly comprehend. As they sat together, Vega's expression showed her understanding, her insight, but she didn't speak any more. Instead, she listened to Yeva.

"I don't mean to suggest that we feel the same thing," Vega said softly. "But when I came back, I had ... well, he's my husband now. But Arlo thought he'd got me back, an' it was difficult for him to understand that I'd changed, in my soul an' core." She remembered it so clearly it was vivid and just... she could almost reach out and touch it. "An' I saw that, you know? I saw it, an it were hard for me to understand, too." She found this difficult in truth, more difficult than she cared to admit. But, being who she was, she admitted it anyhow. "I'm not real good at explainin' my feelin's, an' most of the time I jus' thump him an' tell him he's a dweeb, an' he knows that means I love him." It was as true as true could be.

Vega looked down at her cup and she considered how to say this subtly. Then, of course, she decided that subtle was for wussies. "I changed. An' I will never be the person I was. An' for a long time I focused on that. But what I didn't see was that it didn't matter to him at all. I'm me. Frozen, an' stalled, an' stilted emotions." She lifted her gaze to Yeva. "An' even when I'm at my most broken, an' most afraid, an' when I'm sure that I can't go on? He never doubts me." It was so difficult, Vega knew, because to her she'd been trying to make sense of herself.

"Anyone who loves you, truly loves you, they won't care that you've changed. They might not understan' it, an' it might be soemthin' they struggle with for a bit. But they're only strugglin' because they want to look after you," Considering it a moment, Vega remembered that time. "When I woke up, I was broken. Couldn't walk, my legs were shattered. I'd been in surgery for breaks an' they weren't sure that I'd ever walk again." The scars on her legs were like a map of that journey, Vega believed.

"An' Arlo? He put a mug of hot chocolate jus' out of my reach an' told me that he knew I could get it." There was humour in her voice, but the emotions she felt for her husband were impossible to hide. "An' he held my arms, his hands around my elbows, as I stood for the first time the followin' season. Every exercise, he did with me an' he never, not once, he never showed me any doubt." Had he felt it? Had he worried? Of course he had. But his fears and doubts were about him, never about her.

"You've changed. An' it's somethin' they can't understand." Vega had no doubts about that. "But if they love you - an' they do love you, I saw them round you when you came back - then they love you. So, stop tryin' to be the person you were, because you can't be. An' let them see the person you are. They already love you, an' they're already your friend. Or, they never were." Vega was clear on that. If someone couldn't cope with her changing due to circumstances she had no control over? They hadn't been a friend to begin with. Her philosophy on that was simple. "You never lose a friend. Never. You jus' find out they never were one, not really. So jus' give them - an' you - time."

She grinned then. "Priorities change, aye. Or, you jus' discover they were never really the same. One way or the other, truth's never a bad thing." But Yeva had brought her a gift? Vega shook her head "You didn't need to do that." But the keen young woman was up and off and then there was the gift to unwrap. With her fingers over the geometric-design on the paper, Vega looked at Yeva and said quietly and honestly. "You really didn't need to do that. But thank you. I'm right glad you're back among the livin', an' I'm sorry you experienced what you did. It's horrid an' I wouldn't wish it on no one."

And then, she opened the gift and Vega's face showed her absolute delight. "Oh, Xiur's perky nips, but this is fantastic!" The exclamation was honest and heartfelt. She pulled the hat on her head, unmindful and uncaring of how it looked, simply revelling in the warmth of it. "An', oh, I love these. Thank you!" Tearing her gaze away from the box, she looked at Yeva and smiled. "That's right kind, that is, an' I appreciate it. I imagine you've always been a kind person an' so, even though you're different now, you're still you." Lifting up the chocolates she offered one to Yeva. "I'm gonna get so fat, it's fantastic!"

[Yeva]

95 Vhalar 720

Yeva melted in relief, "I'm so happy you like it!" her gift was met with thrilled reception and the young medic didn't feel that Vega was one to spare someone's feelings for simple social expectation. She had a rawness, an honesty, that Yeva felt drawn to. She smiled in earnest as a chocolate was offered to her and the woman gave a small shake of her head, "Oh, no thank you. I... may have already had a little taste test, so please," she laughed, "Enjoy."

A moment of silence passed, Yeva content to sip her drink. On the way to her saddlebag and back, she had been giving a lot of thought to the words of advice she had been given. Vega had not only been resurrected, but the woman's return to Idalos had been a difficult one, even more so than what was experienced at the ball. But through it all - emotional and physical torment - Vega had found a support system that had never wavered. Maybe it was time to see if she had one of her own. That required trust in a time she had never been more vulnerable.

"You're quite wise, you know?"

Yeva looked out around the hall and the people who moved about, all living their own lives. All experiencing their own emotions. It was difficult to comprehend when she truly thought about it, how many experiences were interwoven in the tapestry of fate. And somehow, despite all of life's complexities, they had chanced a meeting that had turned the course of her life. She sighed, wistfully and with a bit of longing. More than that, there was admiration, "You've given me a lot to think about.... Pleasant things," Yeva had wondered what kind of person Vega was, after hearing about some scuffle with Syroa at the ball and the aftermath, she had missed the heat of the festivities. It was nice to know that the petitioner on her behalf was a strong not-quite stranger of action with her own flaws and strengths. A beautifully complex woman with a loyal, steadfast and interesting husband.

"I wasn't sure what to expect on the way here. I thought..."

That maybe it would be too much.

Even though it passed through her mind, Yeva knew that wasn't really what she felt. She didn't know how to express it, "I didn't know how I would feel, coming back to Storm's Edge. You've helped make it a bit more enjoyable. " She felt...

Hopeful?

"You probably need to get back to your training... I should also wrap up some things while I'm here, reach out to a few others if I can," she went to stand, a bit sad to have to go, "I hope our paths can cross again, Vega. Talking to you has helped more than you might realize."

[Pig Boy]

Player Name: Yeva

Points awarded: 15 xp
Magic xp: None

Knowledge:

Deception
x1

Psychology
x4

Mount
x1

Etiquette
x2

Storytelling
x1


Renown: 0
Loot: N/a
Injuries/Overstepping: N/A
Wealth Points: N/A
Consequences: None

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Player Name: Vega

Points awarded: 15 xp
Magic xp: None

Knowledge: None requested


Renown: 0
Loot: Vega gets a new hat and scarf made by Yeva. Average Quality.
Injuries/Overstepping: N/a
Wealth Points: N/a
Consequences: None

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Notes: Wow, I'm really glad to have read this thread. So heavy with past character lore, and of course the narcissist in me enjoys hearing about the aftermath of my own events...

Vega was an absolute delight here. I giggled a little when she descried her Mom in law as the most terrifying person she's met, just the way she put it. It made me tear up a bit when you started getting into her struggle after coming back to life, which was challenging in so many ways both physically and mentally, a death that had arrived in a similar manner to that of Yeva. I found that coincidence of their methods of dying very interesting indeed. Vega was of course full of great wisdom. I thought the theme of not being able to be who you were and focusing on being who you are now, was a very insightful observation and life lesson. Something a lot of people could learn to do, I suppose, when things change and people change sometimes they get caught up on how they used to be. It's a very sublime concept imo.

Yeva was her usual delightful self. I found the contrast in personality between her and Vega very interesting, and yet they got along so well for all that. Yeva's narrative and dialogue description of the process of death and return was very well written, and also interesting. The whole piece was written so well with such attention to detail of the characters' mindset, that I couldn't help but follow along emotionally as they went through their experiences with each other. I thought the gift she gave to Vega was very well chosen. Yeva is such a nice young lady. I really hope these two characters meet again, I found your collaboration with Vega very well-written and these characters definitely have a great dynamic with each other. Please do thread with each other again!

Wonderful thread, both of you. Enjoy the rewards.


If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!