"Prayer" Intersession Email Exchange (Ayanna/Malidin)
From Toosigma
Okay, just to put everything on the same course, I figure this whole exchange happens on the airship but before Hazera's dinner speech. This is just the email exchange put into order, and I'm just going to add to the bottom to keep this going. Just jump in where I leave off, or feel free to edit anywhere in between.
Okay, why not start the intersession off right away! I figure the party gets out of the temple just about in time to camp at the surface somewhere, either in the clan hold or en route to the airship. On the way back to the surface, Ayanna has been quieter than her usually reserved self, saying nothing other than “I’ll be okay” or equally dismissive terms if asked about what is bothering her. If pressed, she’ll clam-up and say nothing else but will be unable to totally fight the tears that spring forth in spite of her silence. I can’t imagine Malidin would press her farther, but if you figure someone would, she tries to change into a snake or something else with an emotionless face but can’t hold the form for very long.
Well into the night, mayhap while Malidin is on watch or such, he hears Ayanna praying some distance outside of the perimeter. He might have to strain a bit, but he is close enough to catch basically the whole thing:
Mother of All Creation, I have failed again. I failed to see the truth until it was too late, To see that Trina was in danger within the mountain, more than outside. I have failed to save one little girl from a horrible fate; I blindly escorted her to her doom when I should have taken her far, far away. I should have seen the trap, but I was too afraid of the here and now to look to the future. <pause> Mother, I was not made by your hand, and I am so horribly flawed. You have given me so much, but I have made little of it. <pause> I try to see the true path, but I can only find a tangle of darkness everywhere I look. This is naught but my fault, and I am ashamed. It is only by your gifts that I keep moving forward because I cannot even stand on my own. <pause> Mother, with your help I have found wonderful friends, but my own foolishness may drive them away. Please, I pray you not allow them to suffer for my weakness. I am too broken to hope to not fail them, but please let me bear the price of that failure alone. I should have been taken instead of Trina, <pause> And I will always carry the pained expression on her beautiful face at the center of my heart. <pause> Mother, please do not let me cause others such agony as my failure did her. <long pause> Mother of All Creation, You have always forgiven me and shown me kindness. I pray to one day be worthy of such love. <pause> I pray this night as well to learn from you, To learn to forgive myself as I so easily forgive others Mother, because I cannot hope to be forgiven by those I have hurt until I can let go of that hurt as well. I pray that all I have harmed, be well And may I cause no more to suffer. <long pause> May kindness and hope forever mark my passing as it should any of your children on the world. Be it always so.
Okay, just a start, but the Trina thing is probably going to mess with her for a while…
Malidin waits for Ayanna to finish, when she has been silent a while he aproaches. Malidin clears his throught, "Ye Know ye can't blame yer self for that" He approches the rail of the ship (or where ever they may be) and stares out into the night. "You are at no more fault than I, for me kin being ran outta our home. We do the best we can...." Mal puts his hand on Ayanna's Shoulder,"Ye know all is not lost, I swore me life that I would protect that we one too. We will track her and deal with what ever we find!" Malidin turns to look Ayanna in the eye. " I, for one, am so very proud of you.... a few weeks ago, you wouldnt even leave the forest that was your home. Now your out saving the whole world! It is in you ta fix this here problem Ayanna, and many, many, more." He holds up his mug, knowing full well that not only does Ayanna not have a drink, but doesnt drink at all. "Here is to an exciting life!" Malidin drains his mug. "We will get her back, as soon as it is possible. As soon as you can accept that, we can make the next decision on how to proceed..." Mal becomes very serious. "I need you to be at full strength, and right in the head. There is no one I count on more, or would want to. I vow to you, we will make this right." Malidin turns to the open air"....we will make this right" he whispers.
Ayanna, still kneeling, manages a weak and teary smile before collapsing into Malidin. Her arms, tiny and frail against the stout dwarf, wrap around him and tremble with her whole body as the quiet flood of emotions run through her. Her small form leans into him with the weight of a man twice her size, and he remembers colliding with her in a dark ruin near her home what seems a long time ago. At the time he thought little of it, blaming the confusion in the darkness on the force of the meeting. Now he understands so much more about her than he imagined he would ever want to know.
Malidin remembers the dissected pile of parts that Brit made of the construct corpse he brought aboard the airship. The unfeeling metal and stone held together by magic resembled Ayanna once, but looking down he sees the same components crying over the fate of a little girl. Whatever she is, where ever she came from, the dwarf knew that the woman he had come to know and trust was something different than the assassins that looked like her. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding the small woman, but all of that seems trivial compared to what he already knew about her. Sometimes she was the courageous she-wolf, sometimes the confused girl, but always with a heart vast and true.
Ayanna's sobbing and trembling subsides after several minutes but she doesn't let go. Her shoulders relax after a time and she breathes a sigh that does not carry tears, but still kneeling her arms remain around the dwarf and her head on his chest...
She sighs again and traces his massive arm with a delicate finger to the bracelet that matches hers, her alabaster skin and fine features contrasting sharply with his sun-toned muscles. Her eyes and fingers examine it as if never seeing it before, her own formidable crafting skill appraising how exact it was in detail to her own but larger. The trinket, crafted by the man himself and testament to the artist behind the warrior, was as beautiful as the soul wearing it.
Ayanna cupped her fingers over his forearm, aligning her bracelet against his in the gentle glow of the moons and stars. Nothing before her looked like it belonged together without the fruits of his craft; everything seemed so harshly different, her arm against his, that she thought any normal person might laugh. She marveled at how perfect the picture was with that common element of his creation, and how it really wouldn't matter what anyone else thought. The two were from opposite corners of the world, but here they were in spite of all odds to the contrary.
“Aye Lass,” Malidin says, breaking her reverie, “some of my finest work in these.”
“They are beautiful,” she replies. “How did I ever get so lucky?” Her fingers again tracing the dwarf's wrist, her touch as gentle as rose petals on his skin.
“'Tis not luck,” he began in jest, “'tis the work of the Lord!” His bemused chuckle stopping suddenly as the elf, still resting her head on his chest and leaning into him, presses her palm into his and laces their fingers together.
“Ye know, I care for ye, Ayanna.” Malidin almost whispered. “I’d have no one else as my companion.” He too looked down to the bracelets, “Their beauty pales in comparison to yer own.” He said, seemingly blushing. “Together, I believe we can conquer anything, solve any problem.” Malidin leaned into Ayanna, and embraced her.
