Things Past – Across the Sea
by Awn'Renshano
Post Details
ON:
The winds and sun were soft today, muted, subdued. A storm was coming...
From her chamber atop the holy mountain on which the monastery stood, Matriarch Gallae, or Awn'Renshano as her parents had named her, looked upon the most beautiful vista on all Leuss. Below her was the northern facade of the temple, facing outwards to wide and open plains so beautiful and rich in colors of green and golden yellow they must surely be the Summerlands on this realm of existence. A short distance beyond those plains and fully insight of the monastery provided you had the right altitude lay the most serene valley to accompany the beautiful plains. And beyond that valley the land once again flowed downward and gently into the azure watered inlets and bays of the outer edge of the Eternal Sea. On a clear day from atop the highest room in the tallest tower of the monastery you could see all this beautiful geography and more, surely a blessing from Cyiar herself. After all inner peace and attaining a higher plane of thought were nice and all, but it would seem a bit hollow without a marvelous landscape to admire to remind the women of Leuss that Cyiar, and so the Great Goddess, and in turn the Divine Eternal smiled down upon them for devoting their lives to her service.
For Gallae it was nice to know how easy it was to submit herself to the currents of time just by looking at all this beauty and clearing her mind. For the first few days she was here all those centuries ago Gallae would find herself journeying up the tower stairs after morning meals and only coming back down at the soft chimes calling her to dinner. Entire days had gone by in what seemed like seconds.
But today only a half an hour would pass before Gallae was interupted by the scurry of barefeet up the stone stairs to her chambers, accompanied by the shuffling of fine robes.
Gallae's hears detected the sublte differences in the footfalls as they came closer and knew instantly whose they were. Lemurian ears were amazing in that way, and here, far away from the deafening thunder of Meldaben-Kaan, her sense of hearing could only be amplified exponentially by the silent serenity that comes with a cloister. At one point Gallae had found this same silence unnerving, after all the region of her birth only had two very loud seasons, 'Rainy' and 'Monsoon' and the rest of Meldaben-Kaan faired only marginally better by having a half month period of sunshine between these two extremes. Well extreme for Meldaben-Kaan anyway...
"Your grace!" A young woman of Kumari heritage panted as she ran to behind Gallae and prostrated herself before Gallae's holy backside.
Gallae rose gently from her comfortable meditative pose to adress her daughter in faith, still serene and utterly calm from her morning observation of a view that no doubt exponential doubled the property rates for the monastery. Well that is should Gallae and her sisters choose to sell the place and relocate to somewhere a little less... perfect.
"What is it my child?" Gallae responded. To think she had once found that form of address beyond condescending. You hadn't experienced surrealism until you'd be lectured on 'Inner Peace' by a woman a quarter of your own age.
The young woman, Maiden Yella, at first stumbled upon some words while still trying to catch her breath. Upon seeing Gallae's minor look of confusion she repeated herself. "There is a woman here from the Dominion, she has insisted on seeing you..." Yella was interrupted at the end of her sentence by two other sets of feet scurrying up the tower's stairs.
"Her Grace will see you when you are called I insist that you return to the common room this instant!" A familar voice echoed against the stone walls of the staircase.
"Her Grace," An equally familar voice said with a sneer. "will see me now!"
Gallae watched as two fellow members of her race entered her chamber, one was Matron Telvani, a young woman equally devoted to protocol as she was to Cyiar. The other was not a face Awn'Renshano thought to or cared to see again. There in the middle of her chambers, standing proud and indifferent to the disruption she had caused (Or in Matron Telvani's case, hysteria) was General Ail'Ovara, onetime friend, enemy, rival and provocateur to Awn'Renshano back in the good old days, when she worked to further the interests of the Lemurians beyond the Illussian Nebula.
"Greetings General and welcome to my monastery, if you are done causing disruption and barging your way past my gatekeepers, perhaps we can speak civilly." Gallae said with only a hint of a sneer, though her gaze was cold and unfeeling.
Ail'Ovara gave a slight scoff at the notion. "I am not here to speak to you long Agent, or is it Matriarch now?" She said with another sneer, trying to reveal to Gallae's sisters a remnant of her past with the Dominion, but what Ail'Ovara had failed to understand is that most members of the Cyiaric Sect had more colorful lives before they sought shelter within the walls of Cyiar's sanctuaries. While this little tid-bit of information was no doubt interesting to Matron Telvani and Maiden Yella, they cared little, for each of them had left a similar past, more so in Yella's case, perhaps which is why Gallae liked to keep her close. "I am here to deliver a summons..." Ail'Ovara was interrupted by Matron Telvani.
"Don’t you spout your filth! This is a hand of the Divine!" Telvani said in total and complete outrage. "The only one who decides where our Matriarch will go are the Divine and Cyiar herself! And I doubt you follow our faith.....!" Telvani was in turn interrupted by Gallae.
"I have ears Matron Telvani," Gallae said in a calming voice, trying to soothe the major break in protocol on the General's part. "Cyiar would have me use them." She said with a slight sigh, seeing that Telvani had recomposed herself, though an expression of outrage still clinged to her face and her anger continued to boil below the surface, her fists clenched at her sides.
Ail'Ovara stepped forward to personally hand Gallae a very official looking holo-recorder, and without so much more than a smug look at Matron Telvani, the General left as soon as she had arrived.
Gallae gave a simple nod to Maiden Yella and Matron Telvani, which they correctly took as a sign to leave her. Once her attendants had left the room and where well down the tower stairs, Gallae pressed the blinking blue button on the palm sized recorder. A shiny blue scan on her finger pulsed, checking to see if it was really her no doubt. Once it had confirmed Gallae was its intended target it sprang to life, leaping out of her hand and hovering above her, initiating a room encompassing pulse scan, no doubt checking if she was alone. Gallae had almost forgotten the lengths gone to by the Dominion to preserve their secrets.
Finally, after being satisfied the room was clear, the holo-recorder set itself down on Gallae's desk which lay in front of the wide opening that lay in the place of a northern facing wall. Gallae took the hint and sat down at her desk, perhaps the message was shocking and the Dominion didn't want her to band her head on the stone floors when she heard it.
But to her surprise the message was simple text suspended in mid air by the recorder's projectors. It read...
Matriarch Gallae, Mesmer in the service of Cyiar, answerable to no mistress but her own conscience and her Eminence Divine Wexscicia V, formerly Agent Awn'Renshano Gallae'ivarison'Meldabenovoro in the service of the Plan.
Daughter of Tan'Helle and Chan'Lere of the House Ivarison, birthed by Derena'Siran...
Goddess they're not going through her entire history and titles were they? Gallae thought to herself.
Widow of Sar'Kell of the House Verahelle, mother of his heir Assara'Elvan and of his daughter Anirul'Livan, and his son Chan'Helle.
It would appear so, and the Dominion had even remembered to dig up the memories of her family, specifically her dead husband for this momentous occasion. Bastards. She hadn't seen her family in two and a half centuries, a painful reminder of what had driven her into the waiting arms of the Goddess and out of the reach of the Dominion proper.
You are hear by summoned to Katratzi by the way of Kuvar by the Sadow Council in service of the Plan. A ship will arrive at Leuss to bring you through the Exclusion Zone and on to Kuvar within the week, please make all necessary arrangements...
A simple and elegant message from her former overladies, but the last line of the message reminded Gallae just who she was dealing with.
That is all..
They thought they could dismiss her attention within her own monastery? They were mistaken. She would divert her attention from the text but not because the message told her to.
And sure enough as she turned around, the storm Gallae had foretold started to role towards the Monastery's shores by the way of the sea. It looked to be a very large one, perhaps not the likes of the southern monsoons of Meldaben-Kaan but certainly close enough for Leuss. But that storm also symbolized something greater. The Storm symbolized her people and how they were coming for her, to bring her back into the fold for Cyiar knows what, nothing good if she knew anything about the way the Sadow Council operated.
Gallae turned from her view of the storm just as the first rolls of thunder sounded in the distance. She had been right, a storm was coming, and it was coming for her...
OFF:
Matriarch Gallae/Awn'Renshano
Priestess of Cyiar
by Awn'Renshano
Post Details
| Title | Across the Sea | |
| Mission | Things Past | |
| Author(s) | Awn'Renshano | |
| Posted | Wed Sep 26, 2012 @ 7:16pm | |
| Location | Leuss | |
| Timeline | Six Months Ago |
The winds and sun were soft today, muted, subdued. A storm was coming...
From her chamber atop the holy mountain on which the monastery stood, Matriarch Gallae, or Awn'Renshano as her parents had named her, looked upon the most beautiful vista on all Leuss. Below her was the northern facade of the temple, facing outwards to wide and open plains so beautiful and rich in colors of green and golden yellow they must surely be the Summerlands on this realm of existence. A short distance beyond those plains and fully insight of the monastery provided you had the right altitude lay the most serene valley to accompany the beautiful plains. And beyond that valley the land once again flowed downward and gently into the azure watered inlets and bays of the outer edge of the Eternal Sea. On a clear day from atop the highest room in the tallest tower of the monastery you could see all this beautiful geography and more, surely a blessing from Cyiar herself. After all inner peace and attaining a higher plane of thought were nice and all, but it would seem a bit hollow without a marvelous landscape to admire to remind the women of Leuss that Cyiar, and so the Great Goddess, and in turn the Divine Eternal smiled down upon them for devoting their lives to her service.
For Gallae it was nice to know how easy it was to submit herself to the currents of time just by looking at all this beauty and clearing her mind. For the first few days she was here all those centuries ago Gallae would find herself journeying up the tower stairs after morning meals and only coming back down at the soft chimes calling her to dinner. Entire days had gone by in what seemed like seconds.
But today only a half an hour would pass before Gallae was interupted by the scurry of barefeet up the stone stairs to her chambers, accompanied by the shuffling of fine robes.
Gallae's hears detected the sublte differences in the footfalls as they came closer and knew instantly whose they were. Lemurian ears were amazing in that way, and here, far away from the deafening thunder of Meldaben-Kaan, her sense of hearing could only be amplified exponentially by the silent serenity that comes with a cloister. At one point Gallae had found this same silence unnerving, after all the region of her birth only had two very loud seasons, 'Rainy' and 'Monsoon' and the rest of Meldaben-Kaan faired only marginally better by having a half month period of sunshine between these two extremes. Well extreme for Meldaben-Kaan anyway...
"Your grace!" A young woman of Kumari heritage panted as she ran to behind Gallae and prostrated herself before Gallae's holy backside.
Gallae rose gently from her comfortable meditative pose to adress her daughter in faith, still serene and utterly calm from her morning observation of a view that no doubt exponential doubled the property rates for the monastery. Well that is should Gallae and her sisters choose to sell the place and relocate to somewhere a little less... perfect.
"What is it my child?" Gallae responded. To think she had once found that form of address beyond condescending. You hadn't experienced surrealism until you'd be lectured on 'Inner Peace' by a woman a quarter of your own age.
The young woman, Maiden Yella, at first stumbled upon some words while still trying to catch her breath. Upon seeing Gallae's minor look of confusion she repeated herself. "There is a woman here from the Dominion, she has insisted on seeing you..." Yella was interrupted at the end of her sentence by two other sets of feet scurrying up the tower's stairs.
"Her Grace will see you when you are called I insist that you return to the common room this instant!" A familar voice echoed against the stone walls of the staircase.
"Her Grace," An equally familar voice said with a sneer. "will see me now!"
Gallae watched as two fellow members of her race entered her chamber, one was Matron Telvani, a young woman equally devoted to protocol as she was to Cyiar. The other was not a face Awn'Renshano thought to or cared to see again. There in the middle of her chambers, standing proud and indifferent to the disruption she had caused (Or in Matron Telvani's case, hysteria) was General Ail'Ovara, onetime friend, enemy, rival and provocateur to Awn'Renshano back in the good old days, when she worked to further the interests of the Lemurians beyond the Illussian Nebula.
"Greetings General and welcome to my monastery, if you are done causing disruption and barging your way past my gatekeepers, perhaps we can speak civilly." Gallae said with only a hint of a sneer, though her gaze was cold and unfeeling.
Ail'Ovara gave a slight scoff at the notion. "I am not here to speak to you long Agent, or is it Matriarch now?" She said with another sneer, trying to reveal to Gallae's sisters a remnant of her past with the Dominion, but what Ail'Ovara had failed to understand is that most members of the Cyiaric Sect had more colorful lives before they sought shelter within the walls of Cyiar's sanctuaries. While this little tid-bit of information was no doubt interesting to Matron Telvani and Maiden Yella, they cared little, for each of them had left a similar past, more so in Yella's case, perhaps which is why Gallae liked to keep her close. "I am here to deliver a summons..." Ail'Ovara was interrupted by Matron Telvani.
"Don’t you spout your filth! This is a hand of the Divine!" Telvani said in total and complete outrage. "The only one who decides where our Matriarch will go are the Divine and Cyiar herself! And I doubt you follow our faith.....!" Telvani was in turn interrupted by Gallae.
"I have ears Matron Telvani," Gallae said in a calming voice, trying to soothe the major break in protocol on the General's part. "Cyiar would have me use them." She said with a slight sigh, seeing that Telvani had recomposed herself, though an expression of outrage still clinged to her face and her anger continued to boil below the surface, her fists clenched at her sides.
Ail'Ovara stepped forward to personally hand Gallae a very official looking holo-recorder, and without so much more than a smug look at Matron Telvani, the General left as soon as she had arrived.
Gallae gave a simple nod to Maiden Yella and Matron Telvani, which they correctly took as a sign to leave her. Once her attendants had left the room and where well down the tower stairs, Gallae pressed the blinking blue button on the palm sized recorder. A shiny blue scan on her finger pulsed, checking to see if it was really her no doubt. Once it had confirmed Gallae was its intended target it sprang to life, leaping out of her hand and hovering above her, initiating a room encompassing pulse scan, no doubt checking if she was alone. Gallae had almost forgotten the lengths gone to by the Dominion to preserve their secrets.
Finally, after being satisfied the room was clear, the holo-recorder set itself down on Gallae's desk which lay in front of the wide opening that lay in the place of a northern facing wall. Gallae took the hint and sat down at her desk, perhaps the message was shocking and the Dominion didn't want her to band her head on the stone floors when she heard it.
But to her surprise the message was simple text suspended in mid air by the recorder's projectors. It read...
Matriarch Gallae, Mesmer in the service of Cyiar, answerable to no mistress but her own conscience and her Eminence Divine Wexscicia V, formerly Agent Awn'Renshano Gallae'ivarison'Meldabenovoro in the service of the Plan.
Daughter of Tan'Helle and Chan'Lere of the House Ivarison, birthed by Derena'Siran...
Goddess they're not going through her entire history and titles were they? Gallae thought to herself.
Widow of Sar'Kell of the House Verahelle, mother of his heir Assara'Elvan and of his daughter Anirul'Livan, and his son Chan'Helle.
It would appear so, and the Dominion had even remembered to dig up the memories of her family, specifically her dead husband for this momentous occasion. Bastards. She hadn't seen her family in two and a half centuries, a painful reminder of what had driven her into the waiting arms of the Goddess and out of the reach of the Dominion proper.
You are hear by summoned to Katratzi by the way of Kuvar by the Sadow Council in service of the Plan. A ship will arrive at Leuss to bring you through the Exclusion Zone and on to Kuvar within the week, please make all necessary arrangements...
A simple and elegant message from her former overladies, but the last line of the message reminded Gallae just who she was dealing with.
That is all..
They thought they could dismiss her attention within her own monastery? They were mistaken. She would divert her attention from the text but not because the message told her to.
And sure enough as she turned around, the storm Gallae had foretold started to role towards the Monastery's shores by the way of the sea. It looked to be a very large one, perhaps not the likes of the southern monsoons of Meldaben-Kaan but certainly close enough for Leuss. But that storm also symbolized something greater. The Storm symbolized her people and how they were coming for her, to bring her back into the fold for Cyiar knows what, nothing good if she knew anything about the way the Sadow Council operated.
Gallae turned from her view of the storm just as the first rolls of thunder sounded in the distance. She had been right, a storm was coming, and it was coming for her...
OFF:
Matriarch Gallae/Awn'Renshano
Priestess of Cyiar