Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Sept 10, 2011 15:28:50 GMT -5
Oylandra smiled from her place on the matriarch's perch. The greater power Mairsile manifested, the more it pleased her mistress. Miki'kimi, however, was not pleased at all. She gritted her sharpened teeth as she fought angrily against the unseen force that threatened to overcome her strength with ease.
And it did, allowing Mairsile to paddle away as free as an eagle ray. Miki'kimi's gills flared with resentment and more than a little jealousy. In their own bodies, the little amount of friendly envy Mimi and Kiki had for their younger cousin was negligible. With their egos fused, though, it made Miki'kimi intensely competitive. Especially in the face of how much stronger Mairsile had become in such a relatively short time.
She hissed and summoned a swarm of tiny white crystals the shape of arrow heads, seemingly from out of nowhere. In fact the raw material for their creation was all around them - the trace minerals dissolved in the ocean's waters. The gems glowed and circled the fused maid like an angry school of luminescent fish, cracking with an upwelling of electric energy.
Miki'kimi flexed suddenly and the whining swarm instantly flew at Mairsile, each on a sharpened projectile carrying it's own deadly dose of lightning.
|
|
|
Post by Ninmast on Sept 10, 2011 23:27:51 GMT -5
Their cousin yelped in shock at the cruel, venomous outlash, throwing her arms up in front of her, but the mineral arrow heads broke over her protective screen without ever actually endangering her. Still, the action was so unlike her beloved cousins it had truly frightened her.
Mairsile peeked out from behind her arms at the giant, confused. "It was an honest question ... Mimi, Kiki, what's wrong with you?"
|
|
Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Sept 21, 2011 13:17:42 GMT -5
"We..." The giant mermaid frowned as her words became ensnared by inner conflict. The hail of crystals never ceased - new ones formed out of the water just was fast as others broke harmlessly against Mairsile's impeccable defense. Yet the prodigy could sense a momentary lapse of fury as the perpetually channeled attack seemed to wane, if only a little, as Miki'kimi gnawed her lower lip.
"We must have you out of our path," she said at last, almost apologetically. "We are our clan's most powerful offspring. We were born for such a time as this, cousin. For the Convergence. It is a chance for such honor and blessing... And it will not come again for an age. No Tide Water maiden has ever claimed the Champion's Crown, and we must bring you low if our clan is to have it's best chance for glory! Would you deny them that?"
|
|
|
Post by Ninmast on Sept 21, 2011 19:33:24 GMT -5
Taking a more active defense against the shards, but still not striking back, Mairsile summoned a horizontal whirlpool immediately before her, spinning like an overwired clock face in front of her, catching the stones before they could strike her and swirling them into the core, where they crushed one another and returned to the water.
"I love my clan, even when I don't agree with it," she reasoned. "I would never actively deny it greatness. But isn't this the point of this tournament, to find out which of us would have the best chance? I love you, cousins, and I want you and everyone else to be happy, but the rules of the tournament are clear. One side must defeat the other, and the dishonor of one of us throwing the match would far outweigh any honor we might gain through ultimately winning the whole tournament."
Still, the blue-scaled sorceress shook her head. "But that's not the point ... We're having a match, it is only right that we do our best, but ... That last attack, Mimi, Kiki ... it was so full of hate ... No portion of the Convergence is supposed to sew bitterness in our hearts. If this match will sully our relationship, cousins, then ... then ..." The mermaid briefly struggled against the idea of harming such a major event as the Convergence, but wasn't family, wasn't community more important, nay, the very purpose of the grand meeting? She swallowed and put on her best stern face, shouting across the water to her fused cousins, "Why, somehow, I'd find a way to bring this whole Convergence to a stop, sacred numbers be damned!"
|
|
Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Sept 23, 2011 14:09:10 GMT -5
"How childish..."
The coldly, confidently spoken denouncement did not come from Miki'kimi, for she turned in the direction of the speaker and saw... Sedna, so haughty upon her perch, looking down her nose at her would-be challengers. It was enough to make Miki'kimi's blood boil with the rage of her combined egos. She bared her fangs at her, and in the same instant her torrent of shards - without a focused mind to cast them - collapsed back upon their source.
The giant mermaid was badly stricken by the imploding spell, and was forcefully divided into her sum personas, Mimi and Kiki once again. Now they were utterly exhausted. Their unconscious bodies gracefully sank to the silty arena floor.
"Mairsile! Mairsile!" The priestess raved, not so pious to be beyond sporting enthusiasm. "Mairsile has earned her place as Champion of Tidewater!"
The all the multitudes of mermaids cheered.
All but one.
Sedna.
|
|
|
Post by Ninmast on Sept 23, 2011 18:57:18 GMT -5
Mairsile let the portal dissipate with a frown. Well, that had been anticlimatic. She did not worry for her cousins, she could tell they were fine, they had just used up all of their combined energy. Still, she drifted down to them, motioning with either hand as they lifted up off the ground.
"Now," she said gently, "it's my turn to tuck you into bed." And she carried them like that to the healing pavilion, tucking them in on side-by-side seaweed beds before heading back out once more.
|
|
Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Sept 28, 2011 14:09:56 GMT -5
A pair of healers with faces anointed with medicinal patters swam up to ensure the exhausted sisters were closely attended to. Their area of responsibility had no other wounded mages at present, and was well away from the action of the stone-encircled arena. Returning there, Mairsile's swim became an arduous run through a gauntlet of well wishers and multitudes of Tide Water maids boasting to be related to her in ways that were tenuous at best, even for mermaids of the same clan.
They were all so excited to have their champion in the final battle, and the force of their combine attention and affection was a heady thing to cope with. But not all of Tide Water was united in praise of their glistening prodigy. Some of the older maidens - mothers and grandmothers, not showing any age past 30 in human terms - all brooded in disappointment over Mimi and Kiki's defeat. Glad as they were that Tide Water would be represented nonetheless, they had seen the sisters duel before and could not understand how they had been undone by such a seemingly novice mistake.
How indeed?
Mairsile, ever perceptive, felt something might have been amiss... Perhaps Oylandra could offer her insight.
|
|
|
Post by Ninmast on Sept 28, 2011 16:54:25 GMT -5
That was, indeed, her thought, though her insight had many suspicions, and by the time she broke free from her sisters, she was making a bee-line for the booth of the Matriarchs. For a change ignoring proper etiquette, and even her own Matriarch, she came right up in front of them, past the guards who only had time to give her a surprised backwards glance, and right to Oylandra.
The first and only words out of her mouth were direct and driven. "What did Sedna do to Mimi and Kiki back there?"
|
|
Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Oct 3, 2011 15:04:03 GMT -5
The pregnant and pondering matriarch frowned with disinterest. She shrugged, offering up no advice and dismissing Mairsile's errant perception. But that is only what the the matriarchs of the other clans heard.
Secretly, and surprisingly, the Dark Fathom rune hiding under the skin of Mairsile's arm began to ache as the velvet voice of her mistress poured through it, so that Mairsile alone would hear Oylandra's true answer.
"The very same thing that she will do to you, if you do not control yourself." Oylandra stared her apprentice down; sternly, but also with a genuine, albeit hard-edged, kind off affection that one might expect from a strict step-mother.
"I will tell you now, child, that Sedna will be your greatest challenge. Because she is so much like you. And not simply because she sold her fertility to me for greater power. It is because, like you, she has a strong desire to prove herself... But where you differ is your talent with spell craft.
"I cannot yet discern which if you is stronger... That is for YOU to discover... But know that although she is several years your senior, she does not posses nearly as much talent for adaptation and improvisation. She enjoys simply turning the spells of her opponents against them, as you have seen. And the greater power you exert, the more risk there is that Sedna will take hold of your spell. This will be your final bout, Mairsile, but not the last challenge you must face if all that I have foreseen shall come to pass..."
|
|
|
Post by Ninmast on Oct 12, 2012 2:36:43 GMT -5
Oylandra's response did not please her, but Mairsile did not flinch or do anything else to indicate what had transpired between them. However, still frustrated that her cousins had been played, that the match had been interfered with, the mermaid simply turned on her tail and swam away from the Matriarchs without another word. Her momentary disrespect for proper procedures, however, had not yet abated. She headed not for the arena, but for Sedna, calming her thoughts as she went before finally coming up to the Moon Scale maiden.
The swim had calmed her, and when she spoke, her voice was neutral, even touched with a little sympathy for the older woman. "Sedna," she addressed her directly, "I believe it to be prudent that you and I have a short talk before our match, if you would give me the honor of a small measure of your time."
|
|
Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Oct 19, 2012 23:29:02 GMT -5
"What is it you would bother me with?" There was no venom in Sedna's words. The reigning champion seemed oddly at peace as she sat admiring the mirage of the evening's full moon that shimmered on the surface of the waves far above them, and the lunar radiance seemed to be reflected on her pristine scales. The current that played with the great length of her white hair made it sway about her pale and elegant shoulders. Sedna was a picture of serenity. So regal. So assured. It was easy to imagine she might become a matriarch some day.
If only she hand't...
"There is nothing for us to discuss. Your last chance to forfeit has already come and gone." She neither moved, nor changed her tone. Sedna's composure may only have been for the benefit of those watching the pair of finalists, and there were many. Mairsile could already feel the murmurs of telepathic gossip slipping just past the edge of her perception.
|
|
|
Post by Ninmast on Oct 19, 2012 23:41:31 GMT -5
"I cannot with honesty say I know with certainty what that conversation might have as its subjects," Mairsile replied humbly, "only that I believe it must be had, and it must be apart from others. It must have privacy to be effective. I can only promise you that it shall not be long and that it will be resolved with plenty of time for us to return to the ring."
|
|
Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Oct 26, 2012 0:54:46 GMT -5
Sedna seemed to consider this, but gave no answer. The distant moon still held her full attention.
To a mermaid, there was little else more cruelly insulting than to be ignored.
Their nature as telepaths, which had always astounded Dr. Hackett from the first moment Flower had touched his mind, was constant in it’s need for recognition and reciprocal undercurrents of empathy. Much of this occurred on a subconscious level. When mermaids gathered in large numbers, a kind of comforting, psychic background noise was created between their minds. Even if none of them spoke, simple proximity fulfilled a pervasive and deep-seated need for companionship that was greater in them than any other speaking race and all clans felt it; some more than others, if Tide Water’s stereotypical and hyperactive gregariousness was any indication. It was mood altering, almost enlightening, and to be completely deprived of that vital but subtle stimulus for too long… For Dr. Hackett, there had been no more question as to why mermaids went crazy if kept in captivity alone.
Presently, Mairsile was assured of the aura of thousands of other mermaids. Pleasant energies flowed freely between members of the crowd. Somewhere it was driving Flower wild with joy. Still, the mind of the Champion of Moon Scale remained closed to her. The silence was rude, but not debilitating. It was more as if Mairsile were only an idiot child babbling excited nonsense and Sedna, a towering and coldly indifferent adult, waited to let silence shame the girl into skulking away to cry.
Was Sedna really so arrogant? So unfeeling?
No. She might have been rather taciturn and severe, but a sixth sense tantalized Mairsile with the feeling that deep passions flowed in the heart of her final opponent, despite her cold exterior.
Just when Tide Water’s young glory may have given up hope, she was answered.
“Swim with me, Mairsile,” Sedna said tepidly. It was the first time she had called her by name.
Not waiting, Sedna effortlessly uncoiled like an eel and swam towards the dark and open water that waited outside the lights of the Convergence. A performance of songs and dances was beginning in the ring that she would liken years later to the “half-time show” of human sports. They had time. So it seemed Mairsile would have her audience after all, but in a place of Sedna’s choosing. Doubtlessly private and privacy was much needed for what they had to discuss.
The runes on their bodies ached at one another as Sedna lead the way without hurry, close to the sandy sea floor. A large squadron of fist-sized ammonites, risen from the depths for a nocturnal feeding in shallow water, puffed by the predatory maids with a wide berth between them. Their helix-shaped shells glowed pink from the life-sensing sight Mairsile had gained from her mistress, reminding her it wasn’t the full moon that made the darkness so navigable. Sedna had it too, and her piecing gaze was fixed forward where something massive loomed out of the dark.
It was a rust-colored wall, a shipwreck, encrusted with barnacles, coral outcroppings and a similarly ancient anchor that was still set into it’s hawespipe like a gargoyle in the alcove of a gothic cathedral. The old hulk’s only other guardian was a rather grumpy looking octopus who withdrew back into a small breech in the hull and glared out unhappily at the intruding mermaids as they drew nearer to the bow. Passing there, Mairsile saw faded white symbols, the runes humans and the like used to make words. Mermaids had no system of writing, but many of the Moon Scale tutors she’d had as a child made either a hobby or a near religion out of studying these ugly and alien glyphs, and had passed some of their knowledge of how to read them on to Mairsile.
The letters in the metal gave up their meaning to her.
CHEAPER REAPER
The name was not as immediately familiar to her as was the view of the wreck when seen from above, and she was at once struck by the grim realization that she and Sedna were floating over a mass grave. It was the same wrecked fishing vessel that Oylandra had revealed to her at their first meeting in Blue Ring Bay. Below her fins, locked behind mercifully closed cargo hold doors, was the heaped holocaust collection of mermaid bones she had seen: Skeletons that seemed to cling to one another in perpetual terror with jaws opened wide by silent and everlasting screams that might still be heard deafeningly loud and surreal in the spirit world to that very day
They should not have been there.
Before Mairsile could demand why Sedna had lead them here of all places , the expressionless Moon Scale maiden gestured to the ship with one hand.
Heeding her will, the cargo doors began to groan open…
|
|
|
Post by Ninmast on Oct 26, 2012 11:12:55 GMT -5
Mairsile was a patient and understanding mermaid by nature, and even something of a recluse among Tide Water for her aversion to their nature. She waited patiently for Sedna to respond, was sure that she would respond. That ignoring her so severely was rude barely registered. She was conscious that it violated social etiquette on several levels, but could take no offense. She was uniquely aware of Sedna's plight and had long since determined that, with that awareness, she could find any fault with the poor woman's frigid aloofness.
When Sedna finally answered, even deeming to address her by name, Mairsile only gave the briefest pause to give a respectful bow before complying, the Moon Scale not waiting. She let Sedna lead the way in silence, not interrupting as the older lass chose their destination.
She couldn't even say she was surprised to see the old fishing wreck. It seemed an anchoring point of motivation around which Oylandra had shaped each of her proteges. How many times, she wondered, had Oylandra disturbed their sleep with the opening of that groaning door? And now, Sedna was opening it again. But Mairsile didn't balk at it. This place was important. Perhaps, even, more mermaids should have gazed upon their past in physical form as she and, presumably, Sedna had been made to do, to sharpen the reality of a deadly past that had faded in the peace and safety of the Aaron Isles to a collective afterthought, known to all mermaids, taught to all mermaids, but never really accepted by them as something that could actually happen.
In silent patience, Mairsile waited as Sedna opened that ancient door and prepared whatever point she intended to make to the young Tide Water maiden.
|
|
Alex-065
Full Member
Contents Under Pressure
Posts: 408
|
Post by Alex-065 on Nov 4, 2012 20:14:35 GMT -5
The doors opened. The bones Mairsile remembered were there, and in motion. They rattled and spun, tumbled over and over in a dizzying necromantic whirlpool that filled the breadth of the cargo hold. It howled and rubbled as bubbles of ectoplasm rose out of it's whirling maw, defying the strong but not irresistible pull it exerted on it's pair of mermaid observers.
Sedna was certainly unmoved. The bones never left the whirling cauldron she'd made of the wreck, but from the center of their hellish orbit a light was growing. It was not the light of the afterlife, or of a spell of destruction. It was, as Mairsile would learn to recognize, the light of prophesy. It was the otherworldly glow made by all that would or could yet be...
The bones faded as the light grew into a window, a moving image of a human city seen through someone else's eyes. Towers loomed over a sunny streets, like a giant reef out of water with people in place of fish. Mairsile had had such scenes described to her, to at least give her a vague expectation of what a human city was like, but this vision surpassed it.
The image shifted. Mairsile saw a very old human, a man. Dr. Hackett. He was standing with the vision's seer in a library. He smiled kindly and spoke, but there was no sound with the vision. He nodded at the seer gesturing to something the vision panned away to see.
A little girl. She was in a little dress, hopping, trying to reach a book on a waist-high shelf that was nonetheless too high for her. She glanced and saw the seer, saw Mairsile, watching. She smiled, with bright teal-colored eyes. She was a young mermaid in human form. Those beautiful eyes filled with joy as she ran with open arms to the seer. She spoke.
"Mommy!"
The word, spoken so sweetly and with such starling clarity as the only sound of the vision touched Mairsile's heart.
The girl vanished as ugly rust-iron doors suddenly slammed shut, almost angrily so.
The dark of the undersea night returned in place of the warm light of possibility, and Mairsile was reminded that Sedna was still with her.
"This is what is at stake," she told her. "It is only a fraction of what I have seen here. Little is clear or certain. But I know that the one who is crowned All-Clan Champion will see this vision in life, and be mother to that child. The champion will have a child..."
Sedna hesitated. Her eyes filled briefly with warring emotions. They subsided, and she looked down on Mairsile. "I shall be champion," she said with a sardonic smile, and there was no denying the air of certainty that surrounded her.
|
|