Timestamp: 70th of Vhalar, 717
Location: Woods outside Desnind
"You know, Desnind really is beautiful. I wonder if the trees are as nice inside as they are outside?" Cally wondered, walking alongside Kura. The two were headed into the woods around Desnind, looking to hunt. Well, Kura was looking to hunt, Cally was tagging along because she felt like it. To be honest though, Kura was glad that the solidified ghost of her friend had decided to tag along. Kura had missed Cally greatly after her death and being able to talk and interact with her again, even if only for limited periods of time, was a wonderful thing.
"You do know our hotel room is inside a tree, right?" Kura said, grinning at her friend. Cally pondered that seriously for a moment, then laughed and shrugged. Evidently she hadn't quite put that fact together, but Cally had always been pretty scatterbrained. Not stupid by any stretch, but even before her death, Cally had always had trouble slowing down long enough to actually follow a thought all the way through to the conclusion. Her time spent as a ghost only seemed to have made that worse.
They made it to the woods outside the city easily enough and the hunt began. That being said, while they called it a hunt, Kura wasn't very serious about it and Cally couldn't hunt to save her life. It was more a chance to just get away from all the trappings of society, or what passed for society in Desnind, and just spend time in the woods. In truth, there wasn't much difference between the woods and Desnind proper, but the difference was palpable. Desnind tried to exist in harmony with the natural world, instead of making a place for itself the way pretty much the rest of the world did it. An admirable sentiment, Kura supposed, but she doubted the forest would suffer Desnind's presence for long. A century more, maybe two, if that, and the woods would allow Desnind's enemies to pass through it, leaving them utterly defenseless.
Eventually, the two came to a stop under a large tree, where they paused to rest. Or at least, Kura paused to rest, Cally appeared to be tireless. Being a ghost had apparently removed any need for rest. After a moment watching her friend excitedly climb around the roots of the great tree, Kura leaned her head against the trunk and drifted off to sleep. A moment later she jerked awake with a cry. She couldn't remember any of the dream, just a solid sense of direction and a voice. "Come find me." Her familiar, after over fifty arcs of jerking her around, was finally ready to meet.
Cally jumped off a root and landed next to her, opening her mouth to ask a question. But the moment Cally landed, Kura took off into the woods at a run, following the pull. Cally was only a second behind her, slowed for a moment in surprise. The pair ran, unconcerned about stealth or letting any potential prey escape. Cally asked what was going on a few times, not needing to breath allowing to speak just fine while running, but Kura, still being bound by the need to breathe, didn't answer.
Eventually the pair broke through into a clearing, with a single rock in the middle. And sitting on that rock, only visible to Kura's eyes, sat her familiar. The shape was clearly that of barghest but there were a fair number of differences. Firstly, while barghests were reptilian, her familiar was covered in fluffy brown fur that would have looked more appropriate on a rabbit. The rabbit comparisons kept coming, as there were a pair of floppy ears on top of the beasts head and the long whip-like tail had been replaced with a little cottonball bunny tail.
Her familiar looked at her, it's gaze contemplative as she stepped forward. "You." she growled, a world of fury in her voice that didn't seem to surprise the familiar. "Everyone tells me you're a part of myself, a piece of my soul. I find that hard to believe, after what you've done to me." she said, circling the rock with her bow in her hand. "Everyone tells me I should merge with you, but that's not why I'm here. You were prey. I left home to kill you." she growled, though she made no move to draw an arrow from her quiver.
"And yet, you make no move to kill me." the familiar said, that familiar voice sounding in her head. "Why is that, Wolfsdotter?" the fluffy hound asked.
Kura just laughed. "I've been told that being on your own too long is dangerous for you, and by extension, me. Why not appear closer then, could have saved us both a lot of trouble." she said, her tone still angry and wary. "And how have you survived so long, if it's so dangerous?"
The familiar laughed at that. "If I had appeared to you immediately, you would never have left the empire. That was necessary to your growth. As for how I survived, do you really think I spent all that time sitting out in the middle nowhere? I'm part of your soul, after all. I know better than that. I spent most of the last fifty years in the temple of Moseke." he said, sounding amused.
Kura admitted that made sense, but one thing still troubled her. "My growth? You keep saying I didn't truly no myself, and now you speak of growth. Be done with your ambiguous riddles and say clearly what you mean!" she snapped, her voice coming out in a harsh, feral growl.
"It is very simple, Wolfsdotter. All your life you had been raised in The Eternal Empire, never questioning anything you did in the name of keeping your people safe. You followed, but you never made a conscious choice to commit yourself to the duty you were so passionate about. How could you make such a choice, knowing nothing of the world beyond Imperial borders." he said, his tone calm and controlled.
Kura blinked at that, then growled. "And you know as well as I do, nothing has changed. I still serve her majesty, I still protect the people of the Empire." she said, her tone blunt, cold.
"Yes, you do. But you made the choice. You could have kept the freedom of being a free agent, traveled the world under your own momentum. You didn't, of course. That moment, where you decided to once again become The Imperial Owl, the politician that keeps her people safe though strength of mind rather than body. You made that choice knowing what you were giving up, knowing the risks. You not only chose to take up the responsibility again, you refuted any possibility that you might do something else. You became like her majesty. A being whose will could bend the mountains itself." her familiar said, pride clear in his voice.
Kura didn't react to the flattery, for all that she was flattered. "And the dreams, the nightmares?" she asked, her tone blunt.
Her familiar actually grimaced at that. "I am as incomplete without you as you are without me, and by Raskalarn herself, you are impossibly stubborn. I actually thought you'd go looking for me after a year or so." he said, sounding apologetic.
Kura let out a huff. "Desperation. Fair enough, though I'm not inclined to so easily forgive some of those nightmares." she said. The familiar just nodded his head at that. "Answer me this. People keep saying I am incomplete without you. I find this hard to believe, personally. What do they mean?" she asked, her tone intent, still prowling around the rock her familiar was perched on as she spoke.
The familiar laughed again. "For most it's purely spiritual, I assume. For you, it's easier to prove. How could an incomplete being draw on more of that fire in your being, the source of your vaunted powers." he said, his slightly amused.
Kura came to a complete stop at that, looking at the familiar in shock. She had never even considered that. After a moment, she held out her hand. "Fine. I can believe that, and I suppose I can come to forgive the worst of the nightmares. You want to be whole, I'm willing to give it a try, at least." she said, her tone calm, blunt.
"As straightforward as always. Good." the familiar said with a laugh. "My name is Rahmet." he said, touching his nose to Kura's hand. The moment Rahmet touched her, the two of them finally merged and Kura felt the fire within, the power that was her ignite into an inferno. Her veins burned with a power she could barely control, begging for an outlet. She had felt power like this only once before, when her rage had stoke the flame and led to the ability had come to call Parliament of Owls.
This time her focus was great and she finally pulled an arrow from her sheath, aiming into the woods as she poured that power into the arrow. Gold lines appeared on the arrow, as if it were splintering. She held the arrow at full draw, to see how much this splintering would proceed. It stopped after a bit, and once she was relatively certain the power had done all it could, she loosed the arrow.
The moment the arrow passed her bow, it seemingly exploded, ten more arrows appearing around it and going off in a slight angle. A new power, at long last. She had just enough time to see the arrows hit the trees and dissipate, just enough time to feel the elation of discovering a new aspect of her powers. Then her arrow arm seared like it was being split open by the fire inside of her. The pain was excruciating, beyond anything she had ever felt before. After only a moment of that pain, Kura fainted, losing consciousness completely.
Location: Woods outside Desnind
"You know, Desnind really is beautiful. I wonder if the trees are as nice inside as they are outside?" Cally wondered, walking alongside Kura. The two were headed into the woods around Desnind, looking to hunt. Well, Kura was looking to hunt, Cally was tagging along because she felt like it. To be honest though, Kura was glad that the solidified ghost of her friend had decided to tag along. Kura had missed Cally greatly after her death and being able to talk and interact with her again, even if only for limited periods of time, was a wonderful thing.
"You do know our hotel room is inside a tree, right?" Kura said, grinning at her friend. Cally pondered that seriously for a moment, then laughed and shrugged. Evidently she hadn't quite put that fact together, but Cally had always been pretty scatterbrained. Not stupid by any stretch, but even before her death, Cally had always had trouble slowing down long enough to actually follow a thought all the way through to the conclusion. Her time spent as a ghost only seemed to have made that worse.
They made it to the woods outside the city easily enough and the hunt began. That being said, while they called it a hunt, Kura wasn't very serious about it and Cally couldn't hunt to save her life. It was more a chance to just get away from all the trappings of society, or what passed for society in Desnind, and just spend time in the woods. In truth, there wasn't much difference between the woods and Desnind proper, but the difference was palpable. Desnind tried to exist in harmony with the natural world, instead of making a place for itself the way pretty much the rest of the world did it. An admirable sentiment, Kura supposed, but she doubted the forest would suffer Desnind's presence for long. A century more, maybe two, if that, and the woods would allow Desnind's enemies to pass through it, leaving them utterly defenseless.
Eventually, the two came to a stop under a large tree, where they paused to rest. Or at least, Kura paused to rest, Cally appeared to be tireless. Being a ghost had apparently removed any need for rest. After a moment watching her friend excitedly climb around the roots of the great tree, Kura leaned her head against the trunk and drifted off to sleep. A moment later she jerked awake with a cry. She couldn't remember any of the dream, just a solid sense of direction and a voice. "Come find me." Her familiar, after over fifty arcs of jerking her around, was finally ready to meet.
Cally jumped off a root and landed next to her, opening her mouth to ask a question. But the moment Cally landed, Kura took off into the woods at a run, following the pull. Cally was only a second behind her, slowed for a moment in surprise. The pair ran, unconcerned about stealth or letting any potential prey escape. Cally asked what was going on a few times, not needing to breath allowing to speak just fine while running, but Kura, still being bound by the need to breathe, didn't answer.
Eventually the pair broke through into a clearing, with a single rock in the middle. And sitting on that rock, only visible to Kura's eyes, sat her familiar. The shape was clearly that of barghest but there were a fair number of differences. Firstly, while barghests were reptilian, her familiar was covered in fluffy brown fur that would have looked more appropriate on a rabbit. The rabbit comparisons kept coming, as there were a pair of floppy ears on top of the beasts head and the long whip-like tail had been replaced with a little cottonball bunny tail.
Her familiar looked at her, it's gaze contemplative as she stepped forward. "You." she growled, a world of fury in her voice that didn't seem to surprise the familiar. "Everyone tells me you're a part of myself, a piece of my soul. I find that hard to believe, after what you've done to me." she said, circling the rock with her bow in her hand. "Everyone tells me I should merge with you, but that's not why I'm here. You were prey. I left home to kill you." she growled, though she made no move to draw an arrow from her quiver.
"And yet, you make no move to kill me." the familiar said, that familiar voice sounding in her head. "Why is that, Wolfsdotter?" the fluffy hound asked.
Kura just laughed. "I've been told that being on your own too long is dangerous for you, and by extension, me. Why not appear closer then, could have saved us both a lot of trouble." she said, her tone still angry and wary. "And how have you survived so long, if it's so dangerous?"
The familiar laughed at that. "If I had appeared to you immediately, you would never have left the empire. That was necessary to your growth. As for how I survived, do you really think I spent all that time sitting out in the middle nowhere? I'm part of your soul, after all. I know better than that. I spent most of the last fifty years in the temple of Moseke." he said, sounding amused.
Kura admitted that made sense, but one thing still troubled her. "My growth? You keep saying I didn't truly no myself, and now you speak of growth. Be done with your ambiguous riddles and say clearly what you mean!" she snapped, her voice coming out in a harsh, feral growl.
"It is very simple, Wolfsdotter. All your life you had been raised in The Eternal Empire, never questioning anything you did in the name of keeping your people safe. You followed, but you never made a conscious choice to commit yourself to the duty you were so passionate about. How could you make such a choice, knowing nothing of the world beyond Imperial borders." he said, his tone calm and controlled.
Kura blinked at that, then growled. "And you know as well as I do, nothing has changed. I still serve her majesty, I still protect the people of the Empire." she said, her tone blunt, cold.
"Yes, you do. But you made the choice. You could have kept the freedom of being a free agent, traveled the world under your own momentum. You didn't, of course. That moment, where you decided to once again become The Imperial Owl, the politician that keeps her people safe though strength of mind rather than body. You made that choice knowing what you were giving up, knowing the risks. You not only chose to take up the responsibility again, you refuted any possibility that you might do something else. You became like her majesty. A being whose will could bend the mountains itself." her familiar said, pride clear in his voice.
Kura didn't react to the flattery, for all that she was flattered. "And the dreams, the nightmares?" she asked, her tone blunt.
Her familiar actually grimaced at that. "I am as incomplete without you as you are without me, and by Raskalarn herself, you are impossibly stubborn. I actually thought you'd go looking for me after a year or so." he said, sounding apologetic.
Kura let out a huff. "Desperation. Fair enough, though I'm not inclined to so easily forgive some of those nightmares." she said. The familiar just nodded his head at that. "Answer me this. People keep saying I am incomplete without you. I find this hard to believe, personally. What do they mean?" she asked, her tone intent, still prowling around the rock her familiar was perched on as she spoke.
The familiar laughed again. "For most it's purely spiritual, I assume. For you, it's easier to prove. How could an incomplete being draw on more of that fire in your being, the source of your vaunted powers." he said, his slightly amused.
Kura came to a complete stop at that, looking at the familiar in shock. She had never even considered that. After a moment, she held out her hand. "Fine. I can believe that, and I suppose I can come to forgive the worst of the nightmares. You want to be whole, I'm willing to give it a try, at least." she said, her tone calm, blunt.
"As straightforward as always. Good." the familiar said with a laugh. "My name is Rahmet." he said, touching his nose to Kura's hand. The moment Rahmet touched her, the two of them finally merged and Kura felt the fire within, the power that was her ignite into an inferno. Her veins burned with a power she could barely control, begging for an outlet. She had felt power like this only once before, when her rage had stoke the flame and led to the ability had come to call Parliament of Owls.
This time her focus was great and she finally pulled an arrow from her sheath, aiming into the woods as she poured that power into the arrow. Gold lines appeared on the arrow, as if it were splintering. She held the arrow at full draw, to see how much this splintering would proceed. It stopped after a bit, and once she was relatively certain the power had done all it could, she loosed the arrow.
The moment the arrow passed her bow, it seemingly exploded, ten more arrows appearing around it and going off in a slight angle. A new power, at long last. She had just enough time to see the arrows hit the trees and dissipate, just enough time to feel the elation of discovering a new aspect of her powers. Then her arrow arm seared like it was being split open by the fire inside of her. The pain was excruciating, beyond anything she had ever felt before. After only a moment of that pain, Kura fainted, losing consciousness completely.
